Optimized Catalytic WS2–WO3 Heterostructure Design for Accelerated Polysulfide Conversion in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

The lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery is a next generation high energy density battery, but its practical application is hindered by the poor cycling stability derived from the severe shuttling of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Catalysis is a promising way to solve this problem, but the rational design of relevant catalysts is still hard to achieve. This paper reports the WS₂–WO₃ heterostructures prepared by in situ sulfurization of WO₃, and by controlling the sulfurization degree, the structure is controlled, which balances the trapping ability (by WO₃) and catalytic activity (by WS₂) toward LiPSs. As a result, the WS₂–WO₃ heterostructures effectively accelerate LiPS conversion and improve sulfur utilization. The Li–S battery with 5 wt% WS₂–WO₃ heterostructures as additives in the cathode shows an excellent rate performance and good cycling stability, revealing a 0.06% capacity decay each cycle over 500 cycles at 0.5 C. By building an interlayer with such heterostructure‐added graphenes, the battery with a high sulfur loading of 5 mg cm^?2 still shows a high capacity retention of 86.1% after 300 cycles at 0.5 C. This work provides a rational way to prepare the metal oxide–sulfide heterostructures with an optimized structure to enhance the performance of Li–S batteries.     

Revisiting the phosphotyrosine binding pocket of Fyn SH2 domain led to the identification of novel SH2 superbinders.

Protein engineering through directed evolution is an effective way to obtain proteins with novel functions with the potential applications as tools for diagnosis or therapeutics. Many natural proteins have undergone directed evolution in vitro in the test tubes in the laboratories worldwide, resulting in the numerous protein variants with novel or enhanced functions. we constructed here an SH2 variant library by randomizing 8 variable residues in its phosphotyrosine (pTyr) binding pocket. Selection of this library by a pTyr peptide led to the identification of SH2 variants with enhanced affinities measured by EC50. Fluorescent polarization was then applied to quantify the binding affinities of the newly identified SH2 variants. As a result, three SH2 variants, named V3, V13 and V24, have comparable binding affinities with the previously identified SH2 triple‐mutant superbinder. Biolayer Interferometry assay was employed to disclose the kinetics of the binding of these SH2 superbinders to the phosphotyrosine peptide. The results indicated that all the SH2 superbinders have two‐orders increase of the dissociation rate when binding the pTyr peptide while there was no significant change in their associate rates. Intriguingly, though binding the pTyr peptide with comparable affinity with other SH2 superbinders, the V3 does not bind to the sTyr peptide. However, variant V13 and V24 have cross‐reactivity with both pTyr and sTyr peptides. The newly identified superbinders could be utilized as tools for the identification of pTyr‐containing proteins from tissues under different physiological or pathophysiological conditions and may have the potential in the therapeutics.     

Predictive markers of safety and immunogenicity of adjuvanted vaccines

Vaccination represents one of the greatest public health triumphs; in part due to the effect of adjuvants that have been included in vaccine preparations to boost the immune responses through different mechanisms. Although a variety of novel adjuvants have been under development, only a limited number have been approved by regulatory authorities for human vaccines. This report reflects the conclusions of a group of scientists from academia, regulatory agencies and industry who attended a conference on the current state of the art in the adjuvant field. Held at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) in Rockville, Maryland, USA, from 18 to 19 April 2013 and organized by the International Association for Biologicals (IABS), the conference focused particularly on the future development of effective adjuvants and adjuvanted vaccines and on overcoming major hurdles, such as safety and immunogenicity assessment, as well as regulatory scrutiny. More information on the conference output can be found on the IABS website, http://www.iabs.org/.     

应用改进的多聚组氨酸标签T7表达载体构建肺癌cDNA文库

应用噬菌体C端展示系统构建的cDNA文库缺乏开放阅读框筛选机制,文库中多数噬菌体克隆展示框外非天然短肽,给后期蛋白质的筛选带来了不便. 为实现噬菌体的ORF筛选功能,利用PCR技术对已有载体T7Select10-3b进行改造,在MCS处外源cDNA插入位点的3′端引入6聚组氨酸筛选标签,经包装后挑取成功表达的单克隆构建肺癌cDNA文库. 经镍柱亲和层析后,收集文库中表达组氨酸的克隆,利用化学发光免疫试验进行筛选效果鉴定. 结果显示,改造的新型载体可成功表达组氨酸标签,以此构建的肺癌cDNA文库经筛选后,含ORF插入的克隆由筛前的6 %提高至70 %,本研究为提高cDNA文库的质量提供了一种简便可行的方法.     

A novel peptide specifically targeting ovarian cancer identified by in vivo phage display

Discovery of peptide ligands that can target human ovarian cancer and deliver chemotherapeutics offers new opportunity for cancer therapy. The advent of phage‐displayed peptide library facilitated the screening of such peptides. In vivo screening that set in a microanatomic and functional context was applied in our study, and a novel peptide WSGPGVWGASVK targeting ovarian cancer was isolated. The phage clone PC3‐1 displaying peptide WSGPGVWGASVK can gain effective access to accumulate in the tumor sites after intravenous injection while reducing its accumulation in normal organs. Positive immunostaining of PC3‐1 was located in both sites of tumor cells and tumor blood vessels, which resulted in a diffuse binding pattern through the tumor. In vitro study results confirmed the capability of peptide WSGPGVWGASVK binding to and being internalized by both tumor cells and angiogenic endothelial cells. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that the peptide bound to SKOV3 cells with Kd value of 5.43 ± 0.4 μM. Taken together, it suggested that peptide WSGPGVWGASVK is a lead candidate for delivering therapeutics to penetrate into tumors. Copyright © 2013 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recombinant antibody fragments allow repeated measurements of C-reactive protein with a quartz crystal microbalance immunosensor

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a serum marker highly upregulated in inflammation after bacterial infection. Robust, reliable and quick quantification of CRP would be a substitute for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) with superior diagnostic value. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) based sensors coated with specific antibodies and integrated into lab-on-chip systems are in development for rapid point of care quantification. In this study, we isolated three CRP specific single chain (sc)Fv antibody fragments using phage display from an antibody gene library. Their affinities ranged from 2.7 × 10^?8 to 1.0 × 10^?8 M when measured by surface plasmon resonance. ScFv antibody fragment LA13-IIE3 showed best affinity, high long-term stability and remarkable resistance to denaturation. This scFv antibody fragment was coupled to a QCM sensor. CRP quantification in up to 15 samples sequentially measured on the same sensor with intermitting regeneration by buffer was demonstrated.     

Increasing the potency of neutralizing single-domain antibodies by functionalization with a CD11b/CD18 binding domain

Recombinant single domain antibodies (nanobodies) constitute an attractive alternative for the production of neutralizing therapeutic agents. Their small size warrants rapid bioavailability and fast penetration to sites of toxin uptake, but also rapid renal clearance, which negatively affects their performance. In this work, we present a new strategy to drastically improve the neutralizing potency of single domain antibodies based on their fusion to a second nanobody specific for the complement receptor CD11b/CD18 (Mac-1). These bispecific antibodies retain a small size (?30 kDa), but acquire effector functions that promote the elimination of the toxin-immunocomplexes. The principle was demonstrated in a mouse model of lethal toxicity with tetanus toxin. Three anti-tetanus toxin nanobodies were selected and characterized in terms of overlapping epitopes and inhibition of toxin binding to neuron gangliosides. Bispecific constructs of the most promising monodomain antibodies were built using anti Mac-1, CD45 and MHC II nanobodies. When co-administered with the toxin, all bispecific antibodies showed higher toxin-neutralizing capacity than the monomeric ones, but only their fusion to the anti-endocytic receptor Mac-1 nanobody allowed the mice to survive a 10-fold lethal dose. In a model of delayed neutralization of the toxin, the anti- Mac-1 bispecific antibodies outperformed a sheep anti-toxin polyclonal IgG that had shown similar neutralization potency in the co-administration experiments. This strategy should have widespread application in the development of nanobody-based neutralizing therapeutics, which can be produced economically and more safely than conventional antisera.     

Degradation of C-terminal tag sequences on domain antibodies purified from E. coli supernatant

Expression of recombinant proteins often takes advantage of peptide tags expressed in fusion to allow easy detection and purification of the expressed proteins. However, as the fusion peptides most often are flexible appendages at the N- or C-terminal, proteolytic cleavage may result in removal of the tag sequence. Here, we evaluated the functionality and stability of 14 different combinations of commonly used tags for purification and detection of recombinant antibody fragments. The tag sequences were inserted in fusion with the c-terminal end of a domain antibody based on the HEL4 scaffold in a phagemid vector. This particular antibody fragment was able to refold on the membrane after blotting, allowing us to detect c-terminal tag breakdown by use of protein A in combination with detection of the tags in the specific constructs. The degradation of the c-terminal tags suggested specific sites to be particularly prone to proteolytic cleavage, leaving some of the tag combinations partially or completely degraded. This specific work illustrates the importance of tag design with regard to recombinant antibody expression in E. coli, but also aids the more general understanding of protein expression.