Rapid quantitation of monoclonal antibody N-glyco-occupancy and afucosylation using mass spectrometry

N-glyco-occupancy and afucoslyation level are two important quality attributes associated with N-glycosylation of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). We report here a fast mass spectrometry-based workflow for quantification of N-glycan site-occupancy and afucoslyation level of mAbs with improved throughput, precision, sensitivity and robustness. This method uses the deglycosylation after the first GlcNAc and inter-chain reduction of the mAbs, followed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. The entire process can be completed within one hour, which provides a rapid quantitation of N-glyco-occupancy and afucosylation to support high-throughput cell line selection and process development for mAb biopharmaceuticals.     

Protein Kinase A Rescues Microtubule Affinity-regulating Kinase 2-induced Microtubule Instability and Neurite Disruption by Phosphorylating Serine 409

Microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 2 (MARK2)/PAR-1b and protein kinase A (PKA) are both involved in the regulation of microtubule stability and neurite outgrowth, but whether a direct cross-talk exists between them remains unclear. Here, we found the disruption of microtubule and neurite outgrowth induced by MARK2 overexpression was blocked by active PKA. The interaction between PKA and MARK2 was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation and immunocytochemistry both in vitro and in vivo. PKA was found to inhibit MARK2 kinase activity by phosphorylating a novel site, serine 409. PKA could not reverse the microtubule disruption effect induced by a serine 409 to alanine (Ala) mutant of MARK2 (MARK2 S409A). In contrast, mutation of MARK2 serine 409 to glutamic acid (Glu) (MARK2 S409E) did not affect microtubule stability and neurite outgrowth. We propose that PKA functions as an upstream inhibitor of MARK2 in regulating microtubule stability and neurite outgrowth by directly interacting and phosphorylating MARK2.     

蓝光照射导致氧化磷脂及MCP-1在鼠视网膜内蓄积增加

目的探讨蓝光照射是否会导致氧化磷脂和单核细胞趋化蛋白-1(MCP-1)在不同年龄鼠视网膜内蓄积增加。方法对2m和12m的C57/BL6鼠,应用波长为480nm的蓝色二极管光源以2mW/cm2的强度持续照射1w后,将各组鼠眼球摘除,应用RT-PCR、ELISA及免疫组织化学染色等方法检测氧化磷脂及MCP-1在鼠眼内的含量及存在部位。结果接受蓝光照射的2m和12m的鼠视网膜内氧化磷脂含量明显增加,其中12m鼠视细胞外节氧化磷脂的含量明显高于2m鼠。蓝光照射后,RT-PCR、ELISA检测显示:2m和12m的鼠在视网膜色素上皮层及脉络膜层MCP-1的含量明显增加,其中12m鼠含量更高。结论蓝光照射后,高龄鼠比低龄鼠视网膜内更容易蓄积氧化磷脂和MCP-1,蓝光照射可能在AMD的发病中起到重要的作用。     

Overexpression of A613T and G462T variants of DNA polymerase β weakens chemotherapy sensitivity in esophageal cancer cell lines

Background

Human DNA polymerase β (polβ) is a small monomeric protein that is essential for short-patch base excision repair. It plays an important role in regulating the sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapy.

Methods

We evaluated the mutation of polβ in a larger cohort of esophageal cancer (EC) patients by RT-PCR and sequencing analysis. The function of the mutation was evaluated by CCK-8, in vivo tumor growth, and flow cytometry assays.

Results

There are 229 patients with the polβ mutation, 18 patients with A613T mutation, 12 patients with G462T mutation among 538 ECs. Analysis results of survival time showed that EC patients with A613T, G462T mutation had a shorter survival than the others (P < 0.05). CCK-8 and flow cytometry assays results showed the A613T, G462T EC9706 cells were less sensitive than WT cells to 5-FU and cisplatin (P < 0.05). Experiments results in vivo showed that the tumor sizes of A613T and G462T group were larger than WT and polβ^?/? groups (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

In this study, we discovered A to T point mutation at nucleotide 613 (A613T) and G to T point mutation at nucleotide 462 (G462T) in the polβ gene through 538 EC patients cohort study. A613T and G462T variant of DNA polymerase β weaken chemotherapy sensitivity of esophageal cancer.

     

Expression,refolding, and characterization of recombinant thrombopoietin/stem cell factor fusion protein in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

Thrombopoietin/stem cell factor (TPO/SCF) is a novel fusion protein that combines the complementary biological effects of TPO and SCF into a single molecule. In this study, TPO/SCF gene was cloned into pET32a and expressed as a thioredoxin (Trx) fusion protein with a C-terminal 6His-tag in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) under the control of T7 promoter. Trx-TPO/SCF protein approximately accounted for 20% of the total bacterial proteins and was found to accumulate in inclusion bodies. Inclusion bodies were separated from cellular debris, washed with buffer containing 2 M urea, and solubilized with 8 M urea. The refolding of Trx-TPO/SCF was then carried out by an on-column method. Soluble Trx-TPO/SCF was characterized for its dose-dependent effects on promoting cells proliferation in both TF1 and Mo7e cell lines. rhTPO/SCF was released by thrombin digestion and further purified by Ni²⁺ affinity chromatography. Western blot analysis confirmed the identities of Trx-TPO/SCF and rhTPO/SCF.     

The focal adhesion protein Hic-5 is highly expressed in the rat myometrium during late pregnancy and labour and co-localizes with FAK

Background  

Myometrial growth and remodeling of the cytoskeleton and focal adhesions during late pregnancy may be critical aspects of myometrial activation and thus labour. Yet our understanding of these aspects is inhibited by the paucity of information concerning the components of focal adhesions in the myometrium. The focal adhesion protein hydrogen peroxide-inducible clone-5 (Hic-5) has recently been found in mononuclear smooth muscle but was not examined in the myometrium during pregnancy. Thus, the goal of this study was to characterize Hic-5 mRNA and protein expression in the rat myometrium during pregnancy and labour.     

An engineered mouse embryonic stem cell model with survivin as a molecular marker and EGFP as the reporter for high throughput screening of embryotoxic chemicals in vitro

Embryonic stem cell test (EST) is the only generally accepted in vitro method for assessing embryotoxicity without animal sacrifice. However, the implementation and application of EST for regulatory embryotoxicity screening are impeded by its technical complexity, long testing period, and limited endpoint data. In this study, a high throughput embryotoxicity screening based on mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) driven by a human survivin promoter and a human cytomegalovirus promoter, respectively, was developed. These EGFP expressing mESCs were cultured in three-dimensional (3D) fibrous scaffolds in microbioreactors on a multiwell plate with EGFP fluorescence signals as cell responses to chemicals monitored noninvasively in a high throughput manner. Nine chemicals with known developmental toxicity were used to validate the survivin-based embryotoxicity assay, which showed that strongly embryotoxic compounds such as 5-fluorouracil, retinoic acid, and methotrexate downregulated survivin expression by more than 50% in 3 days, while weakly embryotoxic compounds such as boric acid, methoxyacetic acid, and tetracyclin showed modest downregulation effect and nonembryotoxic saccharin, penicillin G, and acrylamide had negligible downregulation effect on survivin expression, confirming that survivin can be used as a molecular endpoint for high throughput screening of embryotoxicants. The potential developmental toxicity of three Chinese herbal medicines were also evaluated using this assay, demonstrating its application in in vitro developmental toxicity test for drug safety assessment.     

河南黄河湿地放线菌多样性及植物病害生防放线菌的筛选

【目的】探究河南黄河湿地放线菌多样性,筛选对植物病原菌有拮抗活性的放线菌菌株。【方法】基于Illumina HiSeq技术的高通量测序分析了河南黄河湿地放线菌物种多样性及其分布特点;利用8种分离培养基对采集自三门峡黄河湿地、郑州黄河湿地和开封黄河湿地21份土壤样品中的放线菌进行了分离纯化,通过16S rRNA基因序列分析对分离株进行了初步的分类鉴定和系统学研究;以7种植物病原菌为靶标筛选有拮抗活性的分离株,并对活性菌株进行了聚酮合酶、非核糖体多肽合成酶和安莎类化合物等基因筛查。【结果】高通量测序结果表明,河南黄河湿地放线菌物种多样性丰富,且不同湿地区域以及同一湿地不同生境间放线菌多样性存在显著差异,放线菌优势属物种依次为Nocardioides、Streptomyces、CL500-29 marine group、Fodinicola、Mycobacterium和Micromonospora,此外,还具有大量的未知类群;通过分离培养共获得了261株纯培养菌株,分布于放线菌门中的7个目9个科9个属,包含97个可能的已知物种和8个潜在新物种,对植物病原菌有拮抗活性的放线菌86株,其中74株中至少含有一种活性代谢物质合成相关基因。【结论】河南黄河湿地放线菌物种多样性丰富,具有发掘新物种和新型植物病害生防资源的潜力。