• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.718-724
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• 2017

The combination of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) with a vaccine is currently effective against rabies infections, but improvements are needed. Genetic engineering antibody technology is an attractive approach for developing novel antibodies to replace RIG. In our previous study, a single-chain variable fragment, scFv57R, against rabies virus glycoprotein was constructed. However, its inherent weak stability and short half-life compared with the parent RIG may limit its diagnostic and therapeutic application. Therefore, an acidic tail of synuclein (ATS) derived from the C-terminal acidic tail of human alpha-synuclein protein was fused to the C-terminus of scFv57R in order to help it resist adverse stress and improve the stability and half-life. The tail showed no apparent effect on the preparation procedure and affinity of the protein, nor did it change the neutralizing potency in vitro. In the ELISA test of molecular stability, the ATS fusion form of the protein, scFv57R-ATS, showed an increase in thermal stability and longer half-life in serum than scFv57R. The protection against fatal rabies virus challenge improved after fusing the tail to the scFv, which may be attributed to the improved stability. Thus, the ATS fusion approach presented here is easily implemented and can be used as a new strategy to improve the stability and half-life of engineered antibody proteins for practical applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.280-287
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• 2015

Current influenza vaccines are produced in embryonated chicken eggs. However, egg-based vaccines have various problems. To address these problems, recombinant protein vaccines have been developed as new vaccine candidates. Unfortunately, recombinant proteins frequently encounter aggregation and low stability during their biogenesis. It has been previously demonstrated that recombinantly expressed proteins can be greatly stabilized with high solubility by fusing stabilizing peptide (SP) derived from the C-terminal acidic tail of human synuclein (ATS). To investigate whether SP fusion proteins can induce protective immunity in mice, we produced influenza HA and SP fusion protein using a baculovirus expression system. In in vitro tests, SP-fused recombinant HA1 (SP-rHA1) was shown to be more stable than recombinant HA1 (rHA1). Mice were immunized intramuscularly with baculovirus-expressed rHA1 protein or SP-rHA1 protein ($2{\mu}g/mouse$) formulated with aluminum hydroxide. Antibody responses were determined by ELISA and hemagglutination inhibition assay. We observed that SP-rHA1 immunization elicited HA-specific antibody responses that were comparable to rHA1 immunization. These results indicate that fusion of SP to rHA1 does not negatively affect the immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate. Therefore, it is possible to apply SP fusion technology to develop stable recombinant protein vaccines with high solubility.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.205-212
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• 2008

본 연구의 목적은 위치특이적 펩타이드 및 단백질을 사용하여 재조합 대장균에서 활성형 인간 상피세포성장인자(hEGF)를 고효율로 발현할 수 있는 방법을 찾아내는 데 있다. 재조합 대장균내 cytoplasm 및 periplasm 영역에서 hEGF의 발현을 위해 각각 세개의 응합 펩타이드 및 단백질을 선정하여 상호 비교하였다. 재조합 대장균에서 hEGF의 발현유도시 대부분 불용성 단백질로 생산되는 현상을 극복하기 위해 cytoplasm영역에서는 ATS, thioredoxin, 리파제를 융합파트너로 사용하였으며 periplasm 영역에서는 foldase인 DsbA와 DsbC, 용융성 고발현 단백질인 maltose binding protein을 선택하여 사용하였다. Periplasm영역에서 발현유도를 시키는 융합단백질의 경우 cytoplasm영역에서의 발현양도 용융성 형태로 고발현 되는 것을 알 수 있었으며 전체적으로 약 2배가량의 용융성 형태로 발현되었다. hECF의 발현율을 가장 높일 수 있는 융합단백 질은 maltose binding protein이었으나 발현된 융합단백질의 24%가 불용성 단백질로 형성되어 활성형 형태로 얻는 데 한계가 있었으며, 활성형 형태로 hEGF의 발현을 위해서는 DsbA를 응합단백질로 사용한 경우에 18.1 mg/L로 가장 높은 발현농도를 보였다. Cytoplasm 영역에서 발현유도를 한 경우에는 ATS와 thioredoxin을 응합파트너로 hEGF를 발현한 경우 용융성 형태로 높은 발현율을 보였다. 특히 ATS와 같은 펩타이드를 N-말단에 융합시킨 경우 불용성을 방지하는 효과를 보여 이황화결합의 불완전성이나 소수성으로 인해 불용성 단백질로 발현되는 기존의 단백질을 활성형 형태로 발현하는데 될 수 있음을 확인할 수 있었다.