Antigenicity of the region encoded by exon8 of the human serine protease, HtrA2/Omi, is associated with its protein solubility.

ABSTRACT

HtrA2/Omi, a mitochondrial serine protease, is pivotal in regulating apoptotic cell death. To determine the location of antigenic determinants in HtrA2/Omi, we expressed a series of the N-terminally truncated HtrA2/Omi as GST fusion proteins in E. coli. We assessed protein solubility and antigenic reactivity of various N-terminally truncated HtrA2/Omi proteins by binding to glutathione beads and immunoblot analyses, respectively. We identified that the region encoded by exon8 of HtrA2/Omi was expressed as a highly soluble form and contains an antigenic determinant specifically recognized by a polyclonal serum against HtrA2/Omi. Our data provide evidence that protein solubility of the specific region in target proteins may contribute to the antigenicity.