• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.190-204
• /
• 2001

This study was conducted to investigate for its effects on reproductive and developmental toxicity of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) in Sprague-Dawley rats. Male rats were administered rhEGF at doses of 1, 10, 100, and 1000$\mu$g/kg/day, respective1y, by subcutaneous injection from 63 days before and throughout to mating period until the day before sacrifice. Female rats were administered rhEGF at the same doses from 14 days before mating to day 20 of gestation or to day 21 of lactation. We examined the male and female fertility indices and maternal toxicity of F0 parental animals. Also, we examined the external, visceral, or skeletal malformation of fetuses, growth and development, behavior, and/or reproductive performance of F1 animals. At the highest dose (1,000 $\mu$g/kg), the mean body weights of F0 animals were significantly increased in males and females at 3 or 2 weeks after treatment, respective1y. No clinical signs and food intakes were observed at any time during the experimental period by rhEGF treatment. In autopsy examination, the relative and absolute liver weights significantly increased in both sexes of 1,000 $\mu$g/kg. At the highest dose (1,000 $\mu$g/kg), there was a statistically significant increase of pregnancy period and the number of dead fetuses. Moreover, significant increase of mean fetal body weight and decrease of number of live fetuses, which related to the difficult dilivery were observed in highest dose group. In Fl examination, no adverse effects on external, visceral, and skeletal malformation, physical and functional development, behavior or reproductive ability of Fl animals were observed in any group. Also, there was no significant difference between control and treated groups in copulation or fertility indices of Fl animals. These results indicate that rhEGF had no adverse effect on fertility and reproductive ability of Sprague-Dawley rats.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.236-241
• /
• 2005

A decolorization process using ion exchange chromatography was developed to refine rhEGF as a cosmetic ingredient. A macroreticular resin (D314) was selected, with respect to its high decolorization rate and recovery yield of rhEGF, and the operational conditions of the decolorization process optimized. The optimum conditions were as follows: the rhEGF effluent was ion exchanged at a flow rate of 60.0mL/h, with an effluent pH 5.0, using a chromatographic column (i.d. 16mm) packed with D314, with a 7.5cm in bed height. The decolorization process was carried out under the optimum conditions, and halted when the effluent volume reached 350mL, giving a decolorization rate and recovery yield of rhEGF higher than 67 and $80\%$, respectively. When the decolorization rate exceeded $67\%$, the final product turned out to be white or light yellowish, which was to the satisfaction of the cosmetic standard.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.330-337
• /
• 2003

The effect of sixteen excipients on the transport of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) across Caco-2 cell monolayers was examined at $37^{\circ}C$. The apparent apical to basolateral (A-B) permeability ($P_{app}$) of 30 $\mu$ M rhEGF was $8.15\times 10^{-7}$ cm/sec, indicative of a poor level of absorption in the GI tract. The Papp was 1.7- and 6.3-fold greater than the $P_{app}$ in the basolateral to apical (B-A) direction and the A-B permeability of mannitol, respectively, and decreased dramatically to a negligible level at $4^{\circ}C$, consistent with a receptor mediated transcytosis of rhEGF. The stability of rhEGF was very poor, undergoing more than 85% degradation in 2 h in the transport medium at $37^{\circ}C$. A significant increase in the $P_{app}$ could be achieved by the addition of certain excipients, as exemplified by 23, 21, 20 and 16-fold increases, in the presence of sodium taurochenodeoxycholate (NaTCDC), sodium taurodeoxycholate (NaTDC), sodium glycodeoxycholate (NaGDC) and sodium laurylsulfate (SLS) (all at a concentration of 1 % w/v), respectively. A significant increase in stability could also be achieved by the addition of some of the excipients, as represented by 1 % SLS, which nearly completely stabilized the rhEGF. Unfortunately, however, an increase in the $P_{app}$ of rhEGF could not be achieved without a simultaneous and extensive decrease in the integrity of the cell membranes. Thus, more efficient excipients, that specifically enhance the permeation of rhEGF and do not alter the membrane integrity, should be pursued in order to safely enhance the permeation of rhEGF.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.730-736
• /
• 1997

Distribution of radioactivity in the skin tissues, subcutaneous tissues, blood and body organs was examined following topical application of $^{125}I-rhEGF$(0.4 ${\mu}Ci$), in the form of a Pluronic F-127 gel, on the normal and damaged (burned and stripped) skins of SD male rats. The radioactivity in the skin tissues and subcutaneous tissues was 3-5 times higher for the damaged skins than for the normal skin. But pretreatment of the skin with rhEGF (1${\mu}g$)) twice at 24 hr dose intervals affected the distribution of the radioactivity yielding the order of burned skin> stripped skin=normal skin. The decrease for the stripped skin by the pretreatment might be related either to the pathophysiological change of the skin or to the down regulation of the EGF receptor. Liver showed the highest radioactivity in amount following single and multiple administration of the drug to the normal and damaged skins. But,in concentration, the kidney and stomach showed higher value than the liver which is consistent with that kidney is a major eliminating organ of EGF and that EGF exerts its pharmacological effect specifically for the stomach.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.355-359
• /
• 2001

A novel HPLC method with electrochemical detection has been developed for the determination of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) in pharmaceutical products. rhEGF was separated from other components in formulation on a reversed-phase C18 column with 24% acetonitrile in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 4.75). The optimum electrochemical oxidation of EGF was obtained at 0.85 V vs. Ag/AgCl in a glassy carbon working electrode due to electroactive tyrosine, tryptophan, methionine, and arginine residues. The quantitation range was from 1.0 to 200 ng of rhEGF with the linear correlation coefficient greater than 0.999. The method was successfully applied for the quantitation of rhEGF in a pharmaceutical preparation.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.415.3-416
• /
• 2002

To improve the stability of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) as therapeutic agent. the N-terminal PEGylated rhEGF (N-PEG-rhEGF) was prepared by site-specific bioconjugation and the stability was investigated in rat skin wound homogenates. Two different N-PEG-rhGEFs (N-PEG5K- and N-PEG20K-rhEGF) were successfully prepared with the yields of above 70%. The PEGylation site was directly confirmed by determining the molecular mass of Lys-C digested samples using MALDI- TOF MS. (omitted)

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.553-559
• /
• 1996

We have designed nucleotide sequences of hEGF structural gene to eliminate the N-terminal methionine residue incorporated during the translation initiation step, and constructed recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) secretion plasmids pYHB101, and pYHB2 in which pelB signal sequence-hEGF gene was expressed under the control of the T7, and tac promoter, respectively. We also constructed pYHB1 vector which contains rhEGF gene controlled by T7 promoter. The transformant with pYHB101 showed relatively slow growth pattern compared to the transformant with pYHB1. However, we observed that the transformant with pYHB101 secreted rhEGF of 13 mg/l significantly after 5 hr induction with 1 mM IPTG and that the T7 promoter was more effective than tac promoter when connected to pelB signal sequence. The amount of rhEGF was 14 mg/l under the sub-optimized condition.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.737-748
• /
• 1997

Distribution of rhEGF in the skin, plasma and several organ tissues following topical application of $^{125}I-rhEGF$ (0.4${\mu}$Ci) solution in 25% Pluronic F-127 on 154$mm^2$ normal and damaged (burned and stripped) skins of hairless mice was examined. The radioactivity in the stripped skin tissues increased as a function of time, and was 10-20 times higher than that in the normal and burned skins. The fractions of intact drug in the skin tissues were 40-60% for the normal and burned skins, and 60-80% for the stripped skin. It indicates that the stratum corneum layer behaves as a barrier for the dermal penetration of the drug. The radioactivity in the plasma was much higher for the stripped skin than for the normal and burned skins. However, the concentration of intact drug in the stripped skin was comparable to those in the normal and burned skins indicating most severe degradation (or metabolism) of the drug in the stripped skin. As a result, the fraction of intact drug in the plasma was lowest for the stripped skin (<10%). Body organ distribution of the drug was much higher for the stripped skin. The concentration in the stomach. Both in total radioactivity and intact drug, showed more than 10-times higher value than in the other organs (liver, kidney and spleen). The fraction of intact drug in each organ tissue was below 10-20%. And generally lowest for the stripped skin. The lowest fraction of the drug for the stripped skin could not be explained by the activity of the aminopeptidases in the skin since it was lower for the stripped skin than for the normal skin. Thereover, the fraction of intact drug appears to be determined by the balance between dermal uptake and systemic elimination of the drug, for example. The mechanism of dermal uptake of rhEGF was examined by topical applying 200${\mu}$l of 25% Pluronic F-127 solution containing 0.4 ${\mu}$Ci of $^{125}I-rhEGF$ and 0.14${\mu}$Ci of $^{14}C$-inulin (a marker of passive diffusion). The radioactivity of $^{125}I-rhEGF$ at each sampling time point (0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8hr) was correlated (p<0.05) with the corresponding radioactivity of $^{14}C$-inulin. It appears to indicate the rhEGF may be uptaken into the skins mainly by the passive diffusion. This hypothesis was supported by the constant specific binding of EGF to the skin homogenates regardless of the skin models. Receptor mediated endocytosis (RME) appears to contribute negligibly, if any, to the overall uptake process.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.601-606
• /
• 2001

A simple assay method of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) in a pharmaceutical preparation was studied and validated by capillary electrophoresis (CE) using micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) techniques. Factors affecting the migration behavior and separation performances of the peptide; type of buffers pH, butler concentration, and concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfates (SDS) were investigated to optimize the analytical performance. CE was performed using running buffers 50.0 mM borate (pH 8.5) containing 12.5 mM SDS at 20 $mutextrm{V}$ of the applied voltage. Calibration curves for the rhEGF showed good linearity (r>0.999) over the wide dynamic range from 1.25 to $100{\mu\textrm{g}}/ml$. Sample analysis was performed by using standard addition method to eliminate the matrix effects of dosage vehicle. This method is assumed to be useful for quality control (QC) of various forms of pharmaceutical products of the peptide.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.542-549
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study was to provide an economical and easy preparation method for recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) without the need for an expensive enzyme to cleave the fusion part. However, the N-terminal fusion part is still useful for affinity chromatography. The hEGF is an important hormone in cell growth and proliferation in humans, and many studies on the expression and purification of this protein have been reported. In the present study, the hEGF gene was designed to be optimized with the E. coli codon usage preference and to contain Asn-Gly at the N-terminus of the protein. The gene was inserted into pRSET_A, an E. coli expression vector, and transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant fusion protein was successfully co-expressed with pG-Tf2, a chaperone vector, in E. coli and purified by Ni-NTA column chromatography. The rhEGF was then released by hydroxylamine treatment and confirmed by SDS-PAGE. ELISA analysis showed that the activity of the free rhEGF was more than 92% similar to that of commercial EGF. The biological activity of the rhEGF was confirmed by a cell proliferation test with human skin fibroblasts.