Tiejun Gu

A novel disulfide-stabilized single-chain variable antibody fragment against rabies virus G protein with enhanced in vivo neutralizing potency

Rabies is a fatal infectious disease requiring efficient protection provided by post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with rabies immunoglobulin (RIG). The single-chain Fv fragment (scFv) is a small engineered antigen binding protein derived from antibody variable heavy (V(H)) and light (V(L)) chains. This novel antibody format may potentially replace the current application of RIG to detect and neutralize rabies virus (RV). However, the broad use of scFvs is confined by their generally low stability. In this study, a scFv (FV57) was constructed based on the monoclonal antibody, MAB57, against RV. To enhance its stability and neutralizing potency, a disulfide-stabilized scFv, ds-FV57, was also derived by introduction of cysteines at V(H)44 and V(L)100. Furthermore, the cysteine at V(L)85 of ds-FV57 was mutated to serine to construct ds-FV57(VL85Ser) in order to avoid potential mis-formed disulfide bonds which would alter the affinity of the scFv. The stability and activity of all three proteins expressed in Escherichia coli were evaluated. All of the constructed scFvs could provide efficient protection against RV infection both in vivo and in vitro. However, the stability of ds-FV57(VL85Ser) was notably improved, and its in vitro neutralizing potency against RV infection was enhanced. Our findings from these stabilization modifications support the feasibility of developing scFvs for PEP treatment of rabies.

Preparation, characterization, and in vitro and in vivo investigation of chitosan-coated poly (d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles for intestinal delivery of exendin-4

Background Exendin-4 is an incretin mimetic agent approved for type 2 diabetes treatment. However, the required frequent injections restrict its clinical application. Here, the potential use of chitosan-coated poly (d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (CS-PLGA) nanoparticles was investigated for intestinal delivery of exendin-4. Methods and results Nanoparticles were prepared using a modified water–oil–water (w/o/w) emulsion solvent-evaporation method, followed by coating with chitosan. The physical properties, particle size, and cell toxicity of the nanoparticles were examined. The cellular uptake mechanism and transmembrane permeability were performed in Madin-Darby canine kidney-cell monolayers. Furthermore, in vivo intraduodenal administration of exendin-4-loaded nanoparticles was carried out in rats. The PLGA nanoparticle coating with chitosan led to a significant change in zeta potential, from negative to positive, accompanied by an increase in particle size of ~30 nm. Increases in both the molecular weight and degree of deacetylation of chitosan resulted in an observable increase in zeta potential but no apparent change in the particle size of ~300 nm. Both unmodified PLGA and chitosan-coated nanoparticles showed only slight cytotoxicity. Use of different temperatures and energy depletion suggested that the cellular uptake of both types of nanoparticles was energy-dependent. Further investigation revealed that the uptake of PLGA nanoparticles occurred via caveolin-mediated endocytosis and that of CS-PLGA nanoparticles involved both macropinocytosis and clathrin-mediated endocytosis, as evidenced by using endocytic inhibitors. However, under all conditions, CS-PLGA nanoparticles showed a greater potential to be transported into cells, as shown by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Transmembrane permeability analysis showed that unmodified and modified PLGA nanoparticles could improve the transport of exendin-4 by up to 8.9- and 16.5-fold, respectively, consistent with the evaluation in rats. Conclusion The chitosan-coated nanoparticles have a higher transport potential over both free drug and unmodified particles, providing support for their potential development as a candidate oral delivery agent for exendin-4.

Improvement of enzymatic stability and intestinal permeability of deuterohemin-peptide conjugates by specific multi-site N-methylation

The deuterohemin-peptide conjugate, DhHP-6 (Dh-β-AHTVEK-NH2), is a microperoxidase mimetic, which has demonstrated substantial benefits in vivo as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, specific multi-site N-methylated derivatives of DhHP-6 were designed and synthesized to improve metabolic stability and intestinal absorption, which are important factors for oral delivery of therapeutic peptides and proteins. The DhHP-6 derivatives were tested for (1) scavenging potential of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2); (2) permeability across Caco-2 cell monolayers and everted gut sacs; and (3) enzymatic stability in serum and intestinal homogenate. The results indicated that the activities of the DhHP-6 derivatives were not influenced by N-methylation, and that tri-N-methylation of DhHP-6 could significantly increase intestinal flux, resulting in a two- to threefold higher apparent permeability coefficient. In addition, molecules with N-methylation at selected sites (e.g., Glu residue) showed high resistance against proteolytic degradation in both diluted serum and intestinal preparation, with 50- to 140-fold higher half-life values. These findings suggest that the DhHP-6 derivatives with appropriate N-methylation could retain activity levels equivalent to that of the parent peptide, while showing enhanced intestinal permeability and stability against enzymatic degradation. The tri-N-methylated peptide Dh-β-AH(Me)T(Me)V(Me)EK-NH2 derived from this study may be developed as a promising candidate for oral administration.

Enhancement of survivin-specific anti-tumor immunity by adenovirus prime protein-boost immunity strategy with DDA/MPL adjuvant in a murine melanoma model.

As an ideal tumor antigen, survivin has been widely used for tumor immunotherapy. Nevertheless, no effective protein vaccine targeting survivin has been reported, which may be due to its poor ability to induce cellular immunity. Thus, a suitable immunoadjuvant and optimized immunization strategy can greatly enhance the cellular immune response to this protein vaccine. DDA/MPL (monophosphoryl lipid A formulated with cationic dimethyldioctadecylammonium) has been reported to enhance the antigen uptake and presentation to T cells as an adjuvant. Meanwhile, a heterologous prime-boost strategy can enhance the cellular immunity of a protein vaccine by applying different antigen-presenting systems. Here, DDA/MPL and an adenovirus prime-protein boost strategy were applied to enhance the specific anti-tumor immunity of a truncated survivin protein vaccine. Antigen-specific IFN-γ-secreting T cells were increased by 10-fold, and cytotoxic T lympohocytes (CTLs) were induced effectively when the protein vaccine was combined with the DDA/MPL adjuvant. Meanwhile, the Th1 type cellular immune response was strongly enhanced and tumor inhibition was significantly increased by 96% with the adenovirus/protein prime-boost strategy, compared to the protein homologous prime-boost strategy. Moreover, this adjuvanted heterologous prime-boost strategy combined with oxaliplatin could significantly enhance the efficiency of tumor growth inhibition through promoting the proliferation of splenocytes. Thus, our results provide a novel vaccine strategy for cancer therapy using an adenovirus prime-protein boost strategy in a murine melanoma model, and its combination with oxaliplatin may further enhance the anti-tumor efficacy while alleviating side effects of the drug.

Preparation and diagnostic use of a novel recombinant single-chain antibody against rabies virus glycoprotein

Rabies virus (RABV) causes a fatal infectious disease, but effective protection may be achieved with the use of rabies immunoglobulin and a rabies vaccine. Virus-neutralizing antibodies (VNA), which play an important role in the prevention of rabies, are commonly evaluated by the RABV neutralizing test. For determining serum VNA levels or virus titers during the RABV vaccine manufacturing process, reliability of the assay method is highly important and mainly dependent on the diagnostic antibody. Most diagnostic antibodies are monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) made from hybridoma cell lines and are costly and time consuming to prepare. Thus, production of a cost-effective mAb for determining rabies VNA levels or RABV titers is needed. In this report, we describe the prokaryotic production of a RABV-specific single-chain variable fragment (scFv) protein with a His-tag (scFv98H) from a previously constructed plasmid in a bioreactor, including the purification and refolding process as well as the functional testing of the protein. The antigen-specific binding characteristics, affinity, and relative affinity of the purified protein were tested. The scFv98H antibody was compared with a commercial RABV nucleoprotein mAb for assaying the VNA level of anti-rabies serum samples from different sources or testing the growth kinetics of RABV strains for vaccine manufactured in China. The results indicated that scFv98H may be used as a novel diagnostic tool to assay VNA levels or virus titers and may be used as an alternative for the diagnostic antibody presently employed for these purposes.

A VL-linker-VH Orientation Dependent Single Chain Variable Antibody Fragment Against Rabies Virus G Protein with Enhanced Neutralizing Potency in vivo.

Lethal rabies can be prevented effectively by post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) with rabies immunoglobulin (RIG). Single-chain variable fragment (scFv), which is composed of a variable heavy chain (VH) and variable light chain (VL) connected by a peptide linker, may be developed as alternative to RIG for neutralizing rabies virus (RV). However, our previously constructed scFv (FV57S) with the (NH2) VH-linker-VL (COOH) orientation showed a lower neutralizing potency than its parent RIG. This orientation may inhibit FV57S from refolding into an intact and correct conformation. Therefore, the RFV57S protein with a VL-linker-VH orientation was constructed based on FV57S. A HIS tag was incorporated to aid in purification and detection of RFV57S and FV57S. However, abilities of RFV57S and FV57S to bind with the anti-HIS tag mAb were different. Therefore, a novel direct ELISA was established by utilizing a biotin-labeled truncated glycoprotein of RV. Although with similar stability and in vitro neutralizing potency as FV57S, RFV57S showed enhanced binding ability, affinity and in vivo protective efficacy against lethal dose of RV. Our studies support the feasibility of developing a scFv with reversed orientation and provide a novel method for evaluating the binding ability, stability and affinity of engineered antibodies recognizing linear epitope.

A novel variable antibody fragment dimerized by leucine zippers with enhanced neutralizing potency against rabies virus G protein compared to its corresponding single-chain variable antibody fragment

Fatal rabies can be prevented effectively by post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) with rabies immunoglobulin (RIG). Single-chain variable fragments (scFv), which are composed of a variable heavy chain (VH) and a variable light chain (VL) connected by a peptide linker, can potentially be used to replace RIG. However, in our previous study, a scFv (scFV57S) specific for the rabies virus (RV) G protein showed a lower neutralizing potency than that of its parent IgG due to lower stability and altered peptide assembly pattern. In monoclonal antibodies, the VH and VL interact non-covalently, while in scFvs the VH is connected covalently with the VL by the artificial linker. In this study, we constructed and expressed two peptides 57VL-JUN-HIS and 57VH-FOS-HA in Escherichia coli. The well-known Fos and Jun leucine zippers were utilized to dimerize VH and VL similarly to the IgG counterpart. The two peptides assembled to form zipFv57S in vitro. Due to the greater similarity in structure with IgG, the zipFv57S protein showed a higher binding ability and affinity resulting in notable improvement of in vitro neutralizing activity over its corresponding scFv. The zipFv57S protein was also found to be more stable and showed similar protective rate as RIG in mice challenged with a lethal dose of RV. Our results not only indicated zipFv57S as an ideal alternative for RIG in PEP but also offered a novel and efficient hetero-dimerization pattern of VH and VL leading to enhanced neutralizing potency.

Detoxified pneumolysin derivative plym2 directly protects against pneumococcal infection via induction of inflammatory cytokines

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of infectious disease and complications worldwide, such as pneumonia, otitis media, bacteremia and meningitis. New generation protein-based pneumococcal vaccines are recognized as alternative vaccine candidates. Pneumolysin (Ply) is a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin produced by all clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae. Our research group previously developed a highly detoxified Ply mutant designated Plym2 by replacement of two animo acids (C428G and W433F). Exhibiting undetectable levels of cytotoxicity, Plym2 could still elicit high titer neutralizing antibodies against the native toxin. However, evaluation of the active immunoprotective effects of Plym2 by subcutaneous immunization and lethal challenge with S. pneumoniae in mice did not yield favorable results. In the present work, we confirmed the previous observations by using passive immunization and systemic challenge. Results of the passive immunization were consistent with those of active immunization. Further experiments were conducted to explain the inability of high titer neutralizing antibodies against Ply to protect mice from S. pneumoniae challenge. Pneumococcal Ply is known to be the major factor responsible for the induction of inflammation that benefits the host. Proinflammatory cytokines facilitate the clearance of invaders by the recruitment and activation of leukocytes at the early infection stage. We demonstrated that Plym2 could induce proinflammatory cytokines similarly to wild-type Ply. A systemic infection model was used to clarify that Plym2 lacking cytolytic activity could protect mice from intraperitoneal challenge directly, while antibodies to the mutant had no effect. Therefore, the protective function of Plym2 may be due to its induction of proinflammatory cytokines. When used in the systemic infection model, Plym2 antibodies may block the induction of proinflammatory cytokines by Ply. These findings demonstrate that a Ply-based vaccine would not be an effective primary vaccine component, but it may be beneficial as an adjuvant to stimulate cytokine production.

Sphere Formation Assay is Not an Effective Method for Cancer Stem Cell Derivation and Characterization from the Caco-2 Colorectal Cell Line.

Although the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) has been demonstrated in colorectal cancer, further investigation is hindered by controversies over their surface markers. The sphere formation assay is widely used as in vitro method for derivation and characterization of CSCs based on the intrinsic self-renewal property of these cells. Isolated cancer cells that form tumorspheres are generally recognized as CSCs with self-renewal and tumorigenic capacities. In this study, colon spheres grown from Caco-2 cells in the sphere formation assay were separated from other differentiated cells and characterized. Compared with Caco-2 cells, the derived colon spheres lost several CSC properties. The colon spheres contained decreased levels of specific colorectal CSC surface markers as well as low levels of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters typically overexpressed in CSCs, resulting in the near loss of their chemoresistance ability. Furthermore, cells that developed as colon spheres with strong self-renewal ability in vitro lost their tumorigenic capacity in vivo compared with Caco-2 cells, which could establish tumors in non-obese diabetic/severe-combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice. The results indicated that the Caco-2 cell derived colon spheres did not consist of colorectal CSCs. Thus, the well-accepted sphere formation assay may not be an effective method for CSC isolation and characterization from the Caco-2 colorectal cancer cell line.

Protective Immune Responses Elicited by Fusion Protein Containing PsaA and PspA Fragments

Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important pathogen accounting for a large number of deaths worldwide. Due to drawbacks of the current polysaccharide-based vaccine, the most promising way to generate an improved vaccine may be to utilize protection-eliciting pneumococcal proteins. Pneumococcal surface adhesin A (PsaA) and pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) are two vaccine candidates which have been evaluated against S. pneumoniae infection in animal models or human clinical trials with encouraging results. In this study, the efficacy of the fusion protein PsaA–PspA, which includes PsaA part and PspA part, in inducing immunoprotective effects against fatal pneumococcal challenge was evaluated in an animal model. PspA part of PsaA–PspA fusion protein contains both family1 N-terminal region and family 2 N-terminal clade-defining region of PspA. Immunization with the PsaA–PspA fusion protein induced high levels of antibodies against both PsaA and PspA, which could bind to intact S. pneumoniae strains bearing different PspAs. Ex vivo stimulation of splenocytes from mice immunized with PsaA–PspA induced IL-17A secretion. Mice immunized with PsaA–PspA showed reduced S. pneumoniae levels in the blood and lungs compared with the PBS group after intranasal infection. Finally, mice immunized with PsaA–PspA fusion proteins were protected against fatal challenge with pneumococcal strains expressing different PspAs regardless of the challenge route. These results support the PsaA–PspA fusion protein as a promising vaccine strategy, as demonstrated by its ability to enhance the immune response and stimulate production of high titer antibodies against S. pneumoniae strains bearing heterologous PspAs, as well as confer protection against fatal challenge with PspA family 1 and family 2 strains.