Biochemical characterization of individual human glycosylated pro-insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-II and big-IGF-II isoforms associated with cancer.

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) is a major embryonic growth factor belonging to the insulin-like growth factor family, which includes insulin and IGF-I. Its expression in humans is tightly controlled by maternal imprinting, a genetic restraint that is lost in many cancers, resulting in up-regulation of both mature IGF-II mRNA and protein expression. Additionally, increased expression of several longer isoforms of IGF-II, termed "pro" and "big" IGF-II, has been observed. To date, it is ambiguous as to what role these IGF-II isoforms have in initiating and sustaining tumorigenesis and whether they are bioavailable. We have expressed each individual IGF-II isoform in their proper O-glycosylated format and established that all bind to the IGF-I receptor and both insulin receptors A and B, resulting in their activation and subsequent stimulation of fibroblast proliferation. We also confirmed that all isoforms are able to be sequestered into binary complexes with several IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, and IGFBP-5). In contrast to this, ternary complex formation with IGFBP-3 or IGFBP-5 and the auxillary protein, acid labile subunit, was severely diminished. Furthermore, big-IGF-II isoforms bound much more weakly to purified ectodomain of the natural IGF-II scavenging receptor, IGF-IIR. IGF-II isoforms thus possess unique biological properties that may enable them to escape normal sequestration avenues and remain bioavailable in vivo to sustain oncogenic signaling.

[Plasmid DNA extraction by double magnetic beads method and its application].

Plasmids are the most commonly used gene carriers in the field of gene synthesis and sequencing. However, the main problems faced by traditional plasmid DNA extraction technology are low extraction throughput and high production cost, so they cannot meet the growing demand. In this study, a double-magnetic-bead method (DMBM) for plasmid extraction was developed based on the principle of plasmid extraction. The effects of the input of magnetic beads, the size of plasmid DNA fragments, and the volume of bacterial on plasmid DNA extraction were explored. In addition, the quality, throughput, and cost of plasmid DNA extraction were also compared between this technique and the commercial plasmid DNA extraction kits. The results showed that the DMBM can meet the needs of extracting plasmid DNA with different cell densities and fragment lengths. Moreover, the sensitivity and quality of plasmid extraction by the DMBM method were both superior to those of the centrifugal adsorption column method. In addition, this technique could be applied on a 96-channel automated nucleic acid extractor, resulting in higher purity of the extracted plasmid DNA, 80% reduction in extraction time, and 57.1% reduction in cost. It also reduces manual operations, achieving high-throughput and low-cost plasmid DNA extraction, thus may facilitate gene synthesis and sequencing.

A new crystal form of human vascular adhesion protein 1.

Human vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) is involved in lymphocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and has been implicated in many human inflammatory diseases. VAP-1 is a member of the copper amine oxidase family of enzymes with a trihydroxyphenylalanine quinone (TPQ) cofactor. Previously characterized crystals of VAP-1 suffered from anisotropy and contained disordered regions; in addition, one form was consistently twinned. In an effort to grow crystals that diffracted to higher resolution for inhibitor-binding studies, a construct with an N-terminal deletion was made and expressed in the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) glycosylation mutant cell line Lec8. Screening produced crystals that displayed some anisotropy and contained seven molecules per asymmetric unit. These crystals belonged to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a=394.5, b=115.8, c=179.3 Å, ß=112.3°. The structure was refined to a resolution of 2.9 Å, with Rcryst and Rfree values of 0.250 and 0.286, respectively.

Development of an anti-ferret CD4 monoclonal antibody for the characterisation of ferret T lymphocytes.

The ferret is an established animal model for a number of human respiratory viral infections, such as influenza virus and more recently, Ebola virus. However, a paucity of immunological reagents has hampered the study of cellular immune responses. Here we describe the development and characterisation of a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) against the ferret CD4 antigen and the characterisation of ferret CD4 T lymphocytes. Recombinant production and purification of the ferret CD4 ectodomain soluble protein allowed hybridoma generation and the generation of a mAb (FeCD4) showing strong binding to ferret CD4 protein and lymphoid cells by flow cytometry. FeCD4 bound to its cognate antigen post-fixation with paraformaldehyde (PFA) which is routinely used to inactivate highly pathogenic viruses. We have also used FeCD4 in conjunction with other immune cell markers to characterise ferret T cells in both primary and secondary lymphoid organs. In summary, we have developed an important reagent for the study of cellular immunological responses in the ferret model of infectious disease.

Structural model for the interaction of a designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein with the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.

Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins are a class of novel binding proteins that can be selected and evolved to bind to targets with high affinity and specificity. We are interested in the DARPin H10-2-G3, which has been evolved to bind with very high affinity to the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). HER2 is found to be over-expressed in 30% of breast cancers, and is the target for the FDA-approved therapeutic monoclonal antibodies trastuzumab and pertuzumab and small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Here, we use computational macromolecular docking, coupled with several interface metrics such as shape complementarity, interaction energy, and electrostatic complementarity, to model the structure of the complex between the DARPin H10-2-G3 and HER2. We analyzed the interface between the two proteins and then validated the structural model by showing that selected HER2 point mutations at the putative interface with H10-2-G3 reduce the affinity of binding up to 100-fold without affecting the binding of trastuzumab. Comparisons made with a subsequently solved X-ray crystal structure of the complex yielded a backbone atom root mean square deviation of 0.84-1.14 Ångstroms. The study presented here demonstrates the capability of the computational techniques of structural bioinformatics in generating useful structural models of protein-protein interactions.

Taking down the FLAG! How insect cell expression challenges an established tag-system.

In 1988 the preceding journal of Nature Biotechnology, Bio/Technology, reported a work by Hopp and co-workers about a new tag system for the identification and purification of recombinant proteins: the FLAG-tag. Beside the extensively used hexa-his tag system the FLAG-tag has gained broad popularity due to its small size, its high solubility, the presence of an internal Enterokinase cleavage site, and the commercial availability of high-affinity anti-FLAG antibodies. Surprisingly, considering the heavy use of FLAG in numerous laboratories world-wide, we identified in insect cells a post-translational modification (PTM) that abolishes the FLAG-anti-FLAG interaction rendering this tag system ineffectual for secreted proteins. The present publication shows that the tyrosine that is part of the crucial FLAG epitope DYK is highly susceptible to sulfation, a PTM catalysed by the enzyme family of Tyrosylprotein-Sulfo-transferases (TPSTs). We showed that this modification can result in less than 20% of secreted FLAG-tagged protein being accessible for purification questioning the universal applicability of this established tag system.

A human monoclonal antibody against insulin-like growth factor-II blocks the growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo.

Elevated expression of insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) is frequently observed in a variety of human malignancies, including breast, colon, and liver cancer. As IGF-II can deliver a mitogenic signal through both IGF-IR and an alternately spliced form of the insulin receptor (IR-A), neutralizing the biological activity of this growth factor directly is a potential alternative option to IGF-IR-directed agents. Using a Fab-displaying phage library and a biotinylated precursor form of IGF-II (1-104 amino acids) as a target, we isolated Fabs specific for the E-domain COOH-terminal extension form of IGF-II and for mature IGF-II. One of these Fabs that bound to both forms of IGF-II was reformatted into a full-length IgG, expressed, purified, and subjected to further analysis. This antibody (DX-2647) displayed a very high affinity for IGF-II/IGF-IIE (K(D) value of 49 and 10 pmol/L, respectively) compared with IGF-I (approximately 10 nmol/L) and blocked binding of IGF-II to IGF-IR, IR-A, a panel of insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins, and the mannose-6-phosphate receptor. A crystal complex of the parental Fab of DX-2647 bound to IGF-II was resolved to 2.2 A. DX-2647 inhibited IGF-II and, to a lesser extent, IGF-I-induced receptor tyrosine phosphorylation, cellular proliferation, and both anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent colony formation in various cell lines. In addition, DX-2647 slowed tumor progression in the Hep3B xenograft model, causing decreased tumoral CD31 staining as well as reduced IGF-IIE and IGF-IR phosphorylation levels. Therefore, DX-2647 offers an alternative approach to targeting IGF-IR, blocking IGF-II signaling through both IGF-IR and IR-A.