突变型人IL-18的肿瘤靶向性改造及真核表达

为了构建肿瘤靶向性的人突变型IL-18新基因并进行真核表达，以重组PCR技术构建EGF-IL-18融合基因，利用 Bac-to-Bac杆状病毒表达系统和Sf 9昆虫细胞株（来自秋天草地夜蛾）表达融合基因，纯化表达产物，并以IFN-γ诱导实验和EGFR竞争结合实验初步评价融合蛋白的生物活性。测序证明构建的融合基因为原设计EGF-IL-18融合基因。SDS-PAGE和Western blot证明EGF-IL-18融合基因在昆虫细胞中获得表达，表达的融合蛋白的Mr约为20 000，与理论值相符，纯化后融合蛋白具有特异的IL-18单抗结合活性。IFN-γ诱导实验和EGFR竞争结合实验显示，该融合蛋白具有肿瘤导向性和抗肿瘤活性。表明对突变型IL-18成功地进行了肿瘤导向性改造并使其在真核细胞获得表达。

Eukaryotic Expression and Tumor-targeting modification of Human Mutated-IL-18 Fusion Gene

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokinin. This protein has a role in regulating immune responses and exhibits significant anti- tumor activities. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is an important growth factor that plays a central role in the regulation of cell cycle and differentiation. It was proposed that a targeted delivery of IL-18 by generation of IL-18-EGF fusion protein might decrease adverse effects and result in enhancing cytotoxic and antitumor activities. In the present study, a fusion protein, consisting of EGFR binding domain fused to human IL18 mature peptide via a linker peptide of (Gly4ser) 3, was constructed and expressed in the insect cell line Sf9 using Bac-to-Bac baculovirus expression system. We showed that the purified recombinant fusion protein induced similar levels of IFN-gamma to that of native IL-18 protein in human PBMC in the presence of ConA. Furthermore, EGF Receptor competitive test in human epithelial cancer A431 cell line showed that EGF- IL18 fusion protein can specifically bind with EGFR by competing with native EGF protein. The results suggested that EGF-IL18 fusion protein could specifically be targeted on tumor cells. The work may provide a new insight into the cytokinin for the tumor treatment.