Human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) produced in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger.

For the first time, a fungal production system is described for expression and secretion of the medically important human protein G-CSF, in Aspergillus niger. A reliable strategy was chosen with in-frame fusion of G-CSF behind a KEX2 cleavage site downstream of the coding region of the highly secreted homologous glucoamylase. This provided secretion levels of 5-10 mg/l culture medium of correctly processed G-CSF, although the majority of the protein (>90%) was biologically inactive.

New assay for quantification of PEGylated proteins during in vitro permeability studies.

One of the major challenges when analyzing very low amounts of PEGylated proteins is finding a sensitive analytical method. Immunoassays are most frequently used, however, conjugation can partially or completely mask protein epitopes, which can substantially lower the response and influence the quantitation range. Here we describe a novel assay that allows quantification of low amounts of PEGylated or differently conjugated proteins.

Cysteine-specific PEGylation of rhG-CSF via selenylsulfide bond.

A new PEGylation reagent enabling selective modification of free thiol groups is described in this article. The reagent was synthesized by attaching linear polyethylene glycol (PEG) N-hydroxysuccinimide to selenocystamine. The reaction was very fast, resulting in over 95% conversion yield.

Coupling purification and on-column PEGylation of tumor necrosis factor alpha analogue.

Trends in preparation of PEGylated protein drugs strive for simple, fast, and cheap processes, resulting in well-defined homogeneous products. We investigated the on-column PEGylation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), where purification and conjugation were performed in one step by using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC). The same quality of the PEGylated product was obtained by the on-column approach starting from either the crude Escherichia coli protein extract or the purified protein.

Reprint of: Influence of the protein oligomericity on final yield after affinity tag removal in purification of recombinant proteins.

The new aspect concerning the applicability of histidine and other affinity tags for the purification of oligomeric proteins, with particular emphasis on cleavage efficiency and final yield, is presented in this study. The final yield depends on both the cleavage efficiency and the degree of oligomerization of the protein. Cleavage procedures that are good enough for monomeric proteins can be problematic for oligomeric proteins.

PEGylation of therapeutic proteins.

Since the first PEGylated product was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1990, PEGylation has been widely used as a post-production modification methodology for improving biomedical efficacy and physicochemical properties of therapeutic proteins. Applicability and safety of this technology have been proven by use of various PEGylated pharmaceuticals for many years. It is expected that PEGylation, as the most established technology for extension of drug residence in the body, will play an important role in the next generation therapeutics, such as peptides, protein nanobodies and scaffolds, which due to their diminished molecular size need half-life extension.

Correlations between in vitro potency of polyethylene glycol-protein conjugates and their chromatographic behavior.

Pegylation is the most widely used and accepted methodology for half-life extension of biopharmaceutical drugs that also improves physicochemical and biological characteristics of proteins considerably. Most of the positive pharmacological effects of pegylated proteins are believed to be related to an increased hydrodynamic volume and molecular size. To explore the size impact of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on in vitro potency, a series of well-defined conjugates of interferon alpha-2b (IFN) were prepared with PEGs of different lengths and shapes specifically attached to the N-terminal amino group of the protein.

Engineering inclusion bodies for non denaturing extraction of functional proteins.

Background: For a long time IBs were considered to be inactive deposits of accumulated target proteins. In our previous studies, we discovered IBs containing a high percentage of correctly folded protein that can be extracted under non-denaturing conditions in biologically active form without applying any renaturation steps. In order to widen the concept of correctly folded protein inside IBs, G-CSF (granulocyte colony stimulating factor) and three additional proteins were chosen for this study: GFP (Green fluorescent protein), His7dN6TNF-alpha (Truncated form of Tumor necrosis factor alpha with an N-terminal histidine tag) and dN19 LT-alpha (Truncated form of Lymphotoxin alpha).

Beta-lactamase reporter system for selecting high-producing yeast clones.

In modern production of protein biopharmaceuticals, a good screening and selection method of high-producing clones can dramatically influence the whole production process and lead to lower production costs. We have created a rapid, simple, and inexpensive method for selecting high-producing clones in the yeast Pichia pastoris that is based on the beta-lactamase reporter system. By integrating the reporter gene and the gene of interest into the same genome locus, it was possible to use beta-lactamase activity as a measure of the expression level of the protein of interest.

Identification of the heparin-binding domain of TNF-alpha and its use for efficient TNF-alpha purification by heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography.

The N-terminus of the trimeric TNF-alpha molecule comprises two basic arginines within the short amino-acid sequence VRSSSR, which is here shown to be essential for binding of TNF-alpha to heparin-Sepharose. Mixed trimers containing full-length and DeltaN6-truncated subunits revealed a single VRSSSR sequence to be sufficient to achieve binding. On the basis of this newly identified heparin-binding domain, a new method for efficient purification of TNF-alpha is described.

Zinc-decorated silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles for protein binding and controlled release.

The aim of this study was to be able to reversibly bind histidine-rich proteins to the surface of maghemite magnetic nanoparticles via coordinative bonding using Zn ions as the anchoring points. We showed that in order to adsorb Zn ions on the maghemite, the surface of the latter needs to be modified. As silica is known to strongly adsorb zinc ions, we chose to modify the maghemite nanoparticles with a nanometre-thick silica layer.

Obstacles and pitfalls in the PEGylation of therapeutic proteins.

In recent years, PEGylation has become widely used as a post-production modification methodology for improving the biomedical efficacy and physicochemical properties of therapeutic proteins. Several marketed drugs that have already been in use for more than a decade have proved the applicability and safety of this technology and, with the successes already achieved, it is expected that PEGylation will be applied to other potential therapeutic proteins. The non-biodegradable nature of PEG, however, may become a limiting factor for the next generation of protein pharmaceuticals, for which use in high concentrations and in the long term is the aim, especially considering the trend for the use of branched and high molecular mass PEGs.

New properties of inclusion bodies with implications for biotechnology.

Human G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) is a well-known biopharmaceutical drug being mostly produced by overexpression in Escherichia coli, where it appears in the form of IBs (inclusion bodies). Following our initial findings that properties of inclusion bodies strongly depend on the growth conditions used, especially growth temperature, we compared the characteristics of the G-CSF inclusion bodies prepared at two different temperatures, namely 42 and 25 degrees C. IBs formed at higher growth temperatures have properties similar to the usually described IBs, containing mainly denatured recombinant protein and being almost completely insoluble in aqueous solutions containing mild detergents or low concentrations of denaturants.

Influence of the protein oligomericity on final yield after affinity tag removal in purification of recombinant proteins.

The new aspect concerning the applicability of histidine and other affinity tags for the purification of oligomeric proteins, with particular emphasis on cleavage efficiency and final yield, is presented in this study. The final yield depends on both the cleavage efficiency and the degree of oligomerization of the protein. Cleavage procedures that are good enough for monomeric proteins can be problematic for oligomeric proteins.

Improvement of potential therapeutic value of tumor necrosis-alpha (TNF-alpha) by charge modulation in the tip region.

Analysis of published data reveals that the introduction of more basic amino acid residues in the flexible N-terminal region of the human tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) molecule indicates a weak but consistent trend towards increased in vitro cytotoxicity, especially when the effect of N-terminal length is taken into account. In our laboratory, a series of TNF analogues with a charge modification in the tip region of the molecule was prepared, and cytotoxicity measured. Similar trends in cytotoxicity with increasing basicity of the TNF analogue were found in this study for two mouse cell lines, L929 and WEHI-164 clone 13-1, as well as for the human line KYM-1D4.

Production of nonclassical inclusion bodies from which correctly folded protein can be extracted.

Human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF), an important biopharmaceutical drug used in oncology, is currently produced mainly in Escherichia coli. Expression of human hG-CSF gene in E. coli is very low, and therefore a semisynthetic, codon-optimized hG-CSF gene was designed and subcloned into pET expression plasmids.

High expression of green fluorescent protein in Pichia pastoris leads to formation of fluorescent particles.

Wild type gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) was stably integrated into the Pichia pastoris genome and yielded an expression level of over 40% of total cellular protein. The high cytoplasmic concentration of fluorescent (properly folded and processed) GFP caused the formation of fluorescent spherical structures, which could be observed by fluorescence or confocal microscopy after controlled permeabilization of the yeast cells with 0.2% N-lauroyl sarcosine (NLS).

Attachment of histidine tags to recombinant tumor necrosis factor-alpha drastically changes its properties.

When studying two different histidine tags attached to the N-termini of the trimeric cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF), the biological activity--measured as cytotoxicity on the L-929 cell line--of both tagged proteins was drastically reduced. The longer His10 tag reduced cytotoxicity to approximately 16% and the shorter His7 tag to 6% of the activity of their nontagged counterparts. After removal of the tags, biological activities reverted to the expected normal values, which clearly shows the key role of the attached histidine tags in diminishing biological activity.

Increased in vitro cytotoxicity of TNF-alpha analog LK-805 is based on the interaction with cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan.

Our tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) analog LK-805 (E107K) exhibited twofold higher specific cytotoxicity on the mouse fibroblast L-929 cell line than its native counterpart. In addition, significantly lowered systemic toxicity was observed in tumor-bearing mouse models treated with this analog. Due to a charge reversal and clustering of three lysines in the exposed tip region of LK-805, we assumed that additional ionic interactions between the positively charged TNF analog and the negatively charged components of the cell surface were created, which might contribute to improved properties of LK-805.

Early events in TNFa - p55 receptor interactions-experiments with TNF dimers.

The first essential step in TNF signal transduction is believed to be clustering of the membrane bound receptors around the trimeric TNF molecule. To check if one receptor binding site would be enough to trigger the signal, we tried to prepare several types of TNF dimer. For this purpose, two TNF analogs bearing different cysteine mutations at the inner subunit binding surfaces were designed, expressed in E.