Validatibility of a capillary isoelectric focusing method for impurity quantitation.

A strategy is presented for examining the validatability of a capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) method, intended for quantitation of product-related impurities in a protein drug substance, according to guidelines published by the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH). The results of this study demonstrate the suitability of cIEF as an analytical method for the quantitation of two product-related impurities in a protein drug substance: a monodeamidated degradation product and an aggregated form of the parent molecule. A range of impurity levels was generated by spiking the isolated impurity species, into a representative production lot of the drug substance.

Rational scale-up of a baculovirus-insect cell batch process based on medium nutritional depth.

We have developed a serum-free cell culture process utilizing a recombinant baculovirus (AcNPV) expression vector to infect Trichoplusia ni insect cells for the production of the human lysosomal enzyme, glucocerebrosidase. The enzyme, which is harvested as a secreted protein in this process, can serve as a replacement therapy for the genetic deficiency Gaucher disease. In the course of pilot scale-up of a batch glucocerebrosidase process from 25-mL working volume shaker flask units to 25-L working volume stirred bioreactor units, a semi-empirical model was developed for the rational determination of scaleable process parameters, including host cell density at infection, multiplicity of infection (MOI), and harvest time.

Endopeptidase-24.15 in rat hypothalamic/pituitary/gonadal axis.

Endopeptidase-24.15 (E.C.

Inhibition of endopeptidase 24.15 greatly increases the release of luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone in response to luteinizing hormone/releasing hormone.

Inhibitors of endopeptidase (EP) 24.15, an enzyme cleaving the Tyr5-Gly6 bond of LHRH, greatly increase the half-life of i.v.

Inhibition of endopeptidase 24.15 slows the in vivo degradation of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone.

Endopeptidase (EP) 24.15 cleaves the Tyr5-Gly6 bond of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) (pGlu-His-Trp-Ser-Tyr-Gly-Leu-Arg-Pro-Gly-NH2), and is the primary LHRH degrading enzyme in pituitary and hypothalamic membrane preparations. Potent and specific inhibitors were used to identify the enzymes involved in the in vivo degradation of LHRH.

Substrate specificity and inhibitors of a capillary injury-related protease from sheep lung lymph.

A serine protease (Mr 70,000 to 75,000) appearing in sheep lung lymph after capillary damage induced by Escherichia coli endotoxin, oleic acid, or air emboli, was studied for its specificity toward a series of synthetic peptide and thioester substrates containing an Arg residue in the P1 position. High specificity constants (kcat/Km) were generally obtained with substrates having two or more basic amino acid residues, and with those having a Gln residues in the P2 position. Secondary enzyme-substrate interactions at sites more removed from the scissile bond are of importance, since a few peptides with two basic residues were hydrolyzed slowly, and the site of cleavage of natural peptides was influenced by the amino acid sequence beyond the immediate vicinity of the hydrolyzed bond.

Endopeptidase-24.15 is the primary enzyme that degrades luteinizing hormone releasing hormone both in vitro and in vivo.

The concentration of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) (pGlu-His-Trp-Ser-Tyr-Gly-Leu-Arg-Pro-Gly-NH2), which reaches the anterior pituitary via the hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal system, appears to be controlled in part by the rate of LHRH degradation within the hypothalamus and/or pituitary. Specific, active site-directed endopeptidase inhibitors synthesized in our laboratory were used to identify the enzyme(s) involved in LHRH degradation by hypothalamic and pituitary membrane preparations, and by an intact anterior pituitary tumor cell line (AtT20). Incubation of LHRH with pituitary and hypothalamic membrane preparations led to the formation of pGlu-His-Trp (LHRH1-3) as the main reaction product.