Hong Tian

Characterization of a monoPEG20000-Endostar

In this study, we investigated the PEG attachment site of mono-PEGylated Endostar, a modified recombinant human endostatin approved in China for lung cancer. N-terminal site-directed mono-PEGylation of Endostar was accomplished using mPEG-propionaldehyde derivatives (Mw=20 kDa) under slightly acidic pH conditions (pH 5.5). One-step cation exchange chromatography was used to purify the mono-PEGylated Endostar. Following tryptic digestion, the peptide fragment containing PEG was separated by SDS-PAGE. Barium iodide staining and Western blotting were used to detect the PEG moiety and the N-terminus of Endostar, respectively. The peptide fragment stained by barium iodide showed a positive response to anti-(His) 6 mAb, demonstrating that PEG was located at the N-terminus of Endostar. LC/MS was applied to verify the occurrence of mono-PEGylation at the N-terminus of Endostar.

Analysis of the interferences in quantitation of a site-specifically PEGylated exendin-4 analog by the Bradford method.

Protein modification has been found to affect the estimation of protein concentration in some of the traditional dye-based absorbance measurements. In this work, a distinct reduction in A595 was observed during the quantitation of a PEGylated exendin-4 analogue (Ex4C) by the Bradford method and the PEGylation process was found to interfere with the measurement. Lys(12), Arg(20), and Lys(27) were further proved to be the major amino acids that functioned as dye-binding sites. The shielding effect produced by the large polymer was demonstrated to depend on the length of PEG that was used for modification.

Characterization of a site-specific PEGylated analog of exendin-4 and determination of the PEGylation site.

PEGylation has been a successful strategy for improving the pharmacokinetic and pharmaceutical properties of proteins and peptides. However, PEGylated products also create significant challenges for detailed structural characterization. In this work, a site-specific PEGylation strategy was successfully performed on an exendin-4 analog (Ex4C) through a maleimide method. Tricine-sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Tricine-SDS-PAGE), analytical reversed phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) and MALDI-TOF were applied to verify the accomplishment of the PEGylation. Peptide mapping was investigated after tryptic digestion, and the PEGylaton site was successfully located on the C-terminal fragment of Ex4C. Amino acid analysis (AAA) of cysteine was then applied to verify the block in the thiol group caused by PEGylation. We believe that the combination of proper enzymatic digestion and amino acid analysis of cysteine provided an easy and convincing way to identify the PEGylation site in this maleimide method.

A site-specific PEGylated analog of exendin-4 with improved pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in vivo

Objectives  Our aim was to improve the in vivo pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of exendin‐4 by using site‐specific PEGylation.

PEGylation enhancement of pH stability of uricase via inhibitive tetramer dissociation

Objectives  Previously, PEGylated uricase was demonstrated to maintain catalytic activity at pH 5.8, the isoelectric point of uricase, where native uricase ceases to function. To find out whether PEGylation could enhance pH stability of uricase, the enzyme activity to pH curve was completely characterized.

Site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids into urate oxidase in Escherichia coli

Urate oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of uric acid with poor solubility to produce 5‐hydroxyisourate and allantoin. Since allantoin is excreted in vivo, urate oxidase has the potential to be a therapeutic target for the treatment of gout. However, its severe immunogenicity limits its clinical application. Furthermore, studies on the structure–function relationships of urate oxidase have proven difficult. We developed a method for genetically incorporating p‐azido‐L‐phenylalanine into target protein in Escherichia coli in a site‐specific manner utilizing a tyrosyl suppressor tRNA/aminoacyl‐tRNA synthetase system. We substituted p‐azido‐L‐phenylalanine for Phe170 or Phe281 in urate oxidase. The products were purified and their enzyme activities were analyzed. In addition, we optimized the system by adding a “Shine‐Dalgarno (SD) sequence” and tandem suppressor tRNA. This method has the benefit of site‐specifically modifying urate oxidase with homogeneous glycosyl and PEG derivates, which can provide new insights into structure–function relationships and improve pharmacological properties of urate oxidase.

Intein-mediated expression and purification of an analog of glucagon-like peptide-1 in Escherichia coli.

To facilitate expression and purification of an analog of GLP-1 (mGLP-1), an intein system was employed in this study. A recombinant fusion protein, CBD-DnaB-mGLP-1, was constructed and expressed in the form of inclusion body. After refolding, the intein-mediated self-cleavage was triggered by pH and temperature shift. By using chitin beads column followed by single step purification, about 2.58 mg of mGLP-1 with the purity of up to 98% could be obtained from 1 L medium. Tricine-SDS-PAGE, RP-HPLC, and ESI-MS were undertaken to determine the purity and molecular weight of mGLP-1. The glucose-lowering activity of mGLP-1 was also preliminarily determined.

Quantitative relationship between the mRNA secondary structure of translational initiation region and the expression level of heterologous protein in Escherichia coli

Translational efficiency in Escherichia coli is strongly influenced by mRNA secondary structure of translational initiation region (TIR). We have previously reported that the expression of heterologous protein is directly related to the minimal folding free energy (ΔG) of the local secondary structure. However, identifying biologically relevant maximum and minimum levels of expression, or exploring the optimal level between them, is a key to successful optimization of heterologous protein expression. To systematically search a large range of the ΔG of TIR, we now present a quantitative analysis of the relationship between expression level and these ΔGs. The ΔG of TIR in green fluorescent protein is found to be linearly correlated with the fluorescence intensity over a range of tenfold change. The result demonstrates that the increasing ΔG of TIR can enhance the expression level linearly with no threshold or plateau.

Pharmacokinetic properties of a 40 kDa branched polyethylene glycol‐modified form of consensus interferon‐α (PEG‐CIFN) in rhesus monkeys

The pharmacokinetic properties of a branched 40 kDa polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugate formulation of consensus interferon-alpha (CIFN) was evaluated in rhesus monkeys following subcutaneous administration. Four groups of rhesus monkeys (n=6 per group) received 1250, 300 and 150 microg/kg of PEG-CIFN and 150 microg/kg CIFN, respectively. Serum concentrations of the interferons were measured with an antiviral activity assay at various time points after administration. The PK profiles of the pooled data were described by a noncompartmental method. Peak concentration of PEG-CIFN was observed at 27-31 h, followed by a prolonged decay in comparison with the unmodified CIFN, the PEG-CIFN had a 4-5-fold longer terminal half-life. The apparent clearance (dose(sc)/AUC) decreased from 150 mL/h/kg for CIFN to 19.0-45.5 mL/h/kg for PEG-CIFNs. The AUC was lower for PEG-CIFN than that for CIFN at the 150 microg/kg.

Genetic fusion of human FGF21 to a synthetic polypeptide improves pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in a mouse model of obesity

Chemical conjugation of therapeutic proteins with polyethylene glycol (PEG) is an established strategy to extend their biological half‐life (t1/2) to a clinically useful range. We developed a novel uncharged and unstructured recombinant polypeptide composed of five amino acids (P, S, T, A and G), named PsTag, as another approach to extend the t1/2 of human FGF21, with increased hydrodynamic radius.