RESUMO
As HIV-1-encoded envelope protein traverses the secretory pathway, it may be modified with N- and O-linked carbohydrate. When the gp120s of HIV-1 NL4-3, HIV-1 YU2, HIV-1 Bal, HIV-1 JRFL, and HIV-1 JRCSF were expressed as secreted proteins, the threonine at consensus position 499 was found to be O-glycosylated. For SIVmac239, the corresponding threonine was also glycosylated when gp120 was recombinantly expressed. Similarly-positioned, highly-conserved threonines in the influenza A virus H1N1 HA1 and H5N1 HA1 envelope proteins were also found to carry O-glycans when expressed as secreted proteins. In all cases, the threonines were modified predominantly with disialylated core 1 glycans, together with related core 1 and core 2 structures. Secreted HIV-1 gp140 was modified to a lesser extent with mainly monosialylated core 1 O-glycans, suggesting that the ectodomain of the gp41 transmembrane component may limit the accessibility of Thr499 to glycosyltransferases. In striking contrast to these findings, gp120 on purified virions of HIV-1 Bal and SIV CP-MAC lacked any detectable O-glycosylation of the C-terminal threonine. Our results indicate the absence of O-linked carbohydrates on Thr499 as it exists on the surface of virions and suggest caution in the interpretation of analyses of post-translational modifications that utilize recombinant forms of envelope protein.
Assuntos
Carboidratos/química , Proteína gp120 do Envelope de HIV/química , Proteína gp120 do Envelope de HIV/genética , Treonina/química , Células HEK293 , HIV-1/química , HIV-1/genética , HIV-1/metabolismo , Células HeLa , Humanos , Vírus da Influenza A/química , Vírus da Influenza A/metabolismo , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/química , Processamento de Proteína Pós-Traducional , Proteínas Recombinantes/química , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Proteínas do Envelope Viral/química , Vírion/química , Vírion/genética , Vírion/metabolismoRESUMO
The potential for protein-engineered biotherapeutics is enormous, but pharmacokinetic modulation is a major challenge. Manipulating pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and bioavailability of small peptide/protein units such as antibody fragments is a major pharmaceutical ambition, illustrated by the many chemical conjugation and recombinant fusion approaches being developed. We describe a recombinant approach that leads to successful incorporation of polysialic acid, PSA for the first time, onto a therapeutically valuable protein. This was achieved by protein engineering of the PSA carrier domain of NCAM onto single-chain Fv antibody fragments (one directed against noninternalizing carcinoembryonic antigen-CEA and one against internalizing human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-HER2). This created novel polysialylated antibody fragments with desired pharmacokinetics. Production was achieved in human embryonic kidney cells engineered to express human polysialyltransferase, and the recombinant, glycosylated product was successfully fractionated by ion-exchange chromatography. Polysialylation was verified by glycosidase digestion and mass spectrometry, which showed the correct glycan structures and PSA chain length similar to that of native NCAM. Binding was demonstrated by ELISA and surface plasmon resonance and on live cells by flow cytometry and confocal immunofluorescence. Unexpectedly, polysialylation inhibited receptor-mediated endocytosis of the anti-HER2 scFv. Recombinant polysialylation led to an estimated 3-fold increase in hydrodynamic radius, comparable to PEGylation, leading to an almost 30-fold increase in blood half-life and a similar increase in blood exposure. This increase in bioavailability led to a 12-fold increase in tumor uptake by 24 h. In summary, recombinant polysialylation of antibody fragments in our system is a novel and feasible approach applicable for pharmacokinetic modulation, and may have wider applications.
Assuntos
Engenharia de Proteínas/métodos , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/uso terapêutico , Ácidos Siálicos/metabolismo , Anticorpos de Cadeia Única/genética , Anticorpos de Cadeia Única/uso terapêutico , Animais , Antígeno CD56/química , Antígeno CD56/genética , Antígeno CD56/metabolismo , Feminino , Células HEK293 , Meia-Vida , Humanos , Hidrodinâmica , Camundongos , Estrutura Terciária de Proteína , Transporte Proteico , Ratos , Receptor ErbB-2/imunologia , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/imunologia , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/farmacocinética , Anticorpos de Cadeia Única/imunologia , Anticorpos de Cadeia Única/metabolismoRESUMO
The Human Proteome Organisation Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative recently coordinated a multi-institutional study that evaluated methodologies that are widely used for defining the N-glycan content in glycoproteins. The study convincingly endorsed mass spectrometry as the technique of choice for glycomic profiling in the discovery phase of diagnostic research. The present study reports the extension of the Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative's activities to an assessment of the methodologies currently used for O-glycan analysis. Three samples of IgA1 isolated from the serum of patients with multiple myeloma were distributed to 15 laboratories worldwide for O-glycomics analysis. A variety of mass spectrometric and chromatographic procedures representative of current methodologies were used. Similar to the previous N-glycan study, the results convincingly confirmed the pre-eminent performance of MS for O-glycan profiling. Two general strategies were found to give the most reliable data, namely direct MS analysis of mixtures of permethylated reduced glycans in the positive ion mode and analysis of native reduced glycans in the negative ion mode using LC-MS approaches. In addition, mass spectrometric methodologies to analyze O-glycopeptides were also successful.