Oxidized and aggregated recombinant human interferon beta is immunogenic in human interferon beta transgenic mice.

Purpose: To study the effect of oxidation on the structure of recombinant human interferon beta-1a (rhIFNβ-1a) and its immunogenicity in wild-type and immune-tolerant transgenic mice.

Methods: Untreated rhIFNβ-1a was degraded by metal-catalyzed oxidation, H(2)O(2)-mediated oxidation, and guanidine-mediated unfolding/refolding. Four rhIFNβ-1a preparations with different levels of oxidation and aggregation were injected intraperitoneally in mice 15× during 3 weeks. Both binding and neutralizing antibodies were measured.

Results: All rhIFNβ-1a preparations contained substantial amounts of aggregates. Metal-catalyzed oxidized rhIFNβ-1a contained high levels of covalent aggregates as compared with untreated rhIFNβ-1a. H(2)O(2)-treated rhIFNβ-1a showed an increase in oligomer and unrecovered protein content by HP-SEC; RP-HPLC revealed protein oxidation. Guanidine-treated rhIFNβ-1a mostly consisted of dimers and oligomers and some non-covalent aggregates smaller in size than those in untreated rhIFNβ-1a. All degraded samples showed alterations in tertiary protein structure. Wild-type mice showed equally high antibody responses against all preparations. Transgenic mice were discriminative, showing elevated antibody responses against both metal-catalyzed oxidized and H(2)O(2)-treated rhIFNβ-1a as compared to untreated and guanidine-treated rhIFNβ-1a.

Conclusions: Oxidation-mediated aggregation increased the immunogenicity of rhIFNβ-1a in transgenic mice, whereas aggregated preparations devoid of measurable oxidation levels were hardly immunogenic.