A rapid, quantitative functional assay for measuring leptin.

At present, leptin is quantitated using immuno-assays that measure leptin mass. Leptin biological activity is determined using protocols that measure feed consumption and weight reduction. These in vivo protocols are semi-quantitative and require large quantities of leptin. We describe a rapid, sensitive and quantitative in vitro assay for leptin using HEK-293 cells stably co-transfected with the leptin receptor Ob-Rb isoform and a STAT-inducible promoter regulating the firefly luciferase cDNA. The assay, performed in a 96-well format, has an EC50 of 150 pM and is linear from 3 to 700 pM of leptin. We demonstrate that the assay is capable of measuring leptin in plasma samples. We demonstrate that bacterially-expressed, recombinant leptin and in vivo expressed leptin are equipotent. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a leptin-derived peptide, leptin fragment 22-56, previously shown to be capable of reducing feed intake following ICV injection does not act directly through the leptin receptor.

Resolution of recombinant human interleukin 10 from variants by recycling free flow focusing.

Recombinant human interleukin 10 (rhIL-10) is a potential human therapeutic agent for treating inflammatory bowel diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. The rhIL-10 molecule derived from Escherichia coli including bodies consists of two identical subunits forming a noncovalent dimer. Since the ability to separate rhIL-10 from closely related impurities was highly desirable, recycling free flow focusing (RFFF) was utilized for the purification process development of rhIL-10. Under nondenaturing conditions, RFFF was able to separate rhIL-10 from fractions enriched in rhIL-10 variants. Three major monomeric variants (A, B, and C) can be identified and quantitated by reversed phase HPLC. The isoelectric point (pI) of rhIL-10 was empirically determined to be 8.2 while that for the three variant populations were in the range 7.3-7.5. Knowledge of these pI's would potentially facilitate the optimization process for ion-exchange chromatography. Furthermore, the technique provided a mild and fast preparation procedure for obtaining the recombinant protein and its variants for further characterization, as evidenced in the separation of rhIL-1- from variant C by successive RFFF treatments.

Production of leptin in Escherichia coli: a comparison of methods.

A procedure is described for gram-scale refolding of Escherichia coli-derived human leptin inclusion bodies. Refolding was achieved by gradually reducing denaturant using a diafiltration method. Refolded leptin is characterized by in vivo modulation of food intake, reduction in body weight, and lowering of insulin and glucose levels in ob/ob mice. In addition, refolded leptin is characterized by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and activation of the leptin receptor in a cell-based assay. For comparison we also refolded leptin by a simple dilution method and produced periplasmic derived leptin, which did not require ex vivo folding. Leptin produced by these three methods and leptin obtained from commercial sources were compared using the RIA and the cell-based assay and appeared to be of comparable quality and potency.