A bispecific immunotoxin (DTAT13) targeting human IL-13 receptor (IL-13R) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) in a mouse xenograft model

A bispecific immunotoxin (IT) called DTAT13 was synthesized in order to target simultaneously the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR)-expressing tumor neovasculature and IL-13 receptor expressing glioblastoma cells with the goal of intratumoral administration for brain tumors. The recombinant hybrid was created using the non-internalizing N-terminal fragment (ATF) of uPA and the IL-13 molecule for binding plus the catalytic and translocation portion of diphtheria toxin (DT) for killing. The 71 kDa protein was highly selective for human glioblastoma in vitro showing no loss on binding compared with DTAT and DTIL13 controls. In vivo, DTAT13 caused the regression of small tumors when administered at 10 micro g/day given on a five-dose schedule every other day. DTAT13 was able to target both overexpressed uPAR and the vasculature, as demonstrated by its ability to kill HUVEC cells. Also, mortality studies indicated that DTAT13 was less toxic than DTAT or DTIL13. These findings indicate that bispecific IT may allow treatment of a broader subset of antigenically diverse patients while simultaneously reducing the exposure to toxin required than if two separate agents were employed.     

Engineering a substrate-specific cold-adapted subtilisin

One region predicted to be highly flexible for a psychrophilic enzyme, TA39 subtilisin (S39), was transferred in silico to the mesophilic subtilisin, savinase (EC 3.4.21.62), from Bacillus lentus (clausii). The engineered hybrid and savinase were initially investigated by molecular dynamic simulations at 300 K to show binding region and global flexibility. The predicted S39 region consists of 12 residues, which due to homology between the subtilisins, results in a total change of eight residues. By site-directed modifications, the region was transferred to the binding region of savinase, thus a savinase-S39 hybrid, named H5, was constructed. The designed hybrid showed the same temperature optimum and pH profile as savinase, but H5 had higher specific activity on the synthetic substrate N-succinyl-L-Ala-L-Ala-L-Pro-L-Phe-p-nitroanilide (AAPF) at all temperatures measured and, at the same time, H5 showed a decrease in thermostability. The H5 hybrid showed broader substrate specificity, measured at room temperature, due to an increase in catalytic efficiency on AAPF, AAPA and FAAF compared with savinase (N-succinyl-XXXX-pNA; XXXX = AAPF, AAPA and FAAF). The H5 hybrid showed increased activity at low temperature, increased binding region and global flexibility, as investigated by molecular dynamic simulations, and global destabilization from differential scanning calorimetry measurements. These psychrophilic characteristics indicated an increase in binding site flexibility, probably due to the modifications P129S, S130G, P131E, and thus we show that it is possible to increase low temperature activity and global flexibility by engineered flexibility in the binding region.     

Non-polar nuclei in fungal microbial RNases

An application of a previously proposed method for the analysisof the non-polar structure of proteins is presented. A detailedanalysis of the composition and properties of non-polar nucleiand microclusters of fungal microbial ribonucleases has beenperformed on the basis of the 3-D structures of RNase T1 andrelated proteins. Three hydrophobic nuclei were found in thesestructures. It has been shown that all residues in non-polarnuclei have high homology ({small tilde}89%). Residues in thenuclei are practically fully buried in the interior of a molecule.Detailed analysis of non-polar nuclei properties shows thatthese nuclei determine the hydrophobic core of a protein andthe location and role of each residue in the non-polar interiorof proteins. In addition it was found that there are variableresidues not only on the surface of a protein but on the surfaceof the nuclei inside the protein and between the nuclei andthat there is a consistent region in all proteins, the hydrophobic-nuclei. An evaluation of the stability of non-polar nuclei,the conservation of their compositions and their positions inthe protein globule, allows one to assume that these three nucleiplay an important functional role in the stability and foldingof molecules of RNases and possibly can be considered as independentstructural elements of 3-D structures of these proteins.     

Effects of novel peptides derived from the acidic tail of synuclein (ATS) on the aggregation and stability of fusion proteins

The acidic tail of alpha-synuclein (ATSalpha) has been shown to protect the glutathione S-transferase (GST)-ATSalpha fusion protein from environmental stresses, such as heat, pH and metal ions. In this study, we further demonstrated that the introduction of ATSalpha into other proteins, such as dehydrofolate reductase and adiponectin, renders the fusion proteins resistant to heat-induced aggregation and that the acidic tail of beta- or gamma-synuclein can also protect the fusion proteins from heat-induced aggregation. Interestingly, the heat resistance of GST-ATSalpha deletion mutants, which contain shorter peptides derived from the highly charged regions of ATSalpha, was approximately proportional to the number of added Glu/Asp residues. However, the negative charges in the ATSalpha-derived peptides appear insufficient to explain the extreme heat resistance of the fusion proteins, since polyglutamates appeared to be much less effective than the ATSalpha-derived peptides in conferring heat resistance on the fusion proteins. These results suggest that not only the negatively charged residues but also the specific amino acid sequence of ATSalpha play an important role in conferring extreme heat resistance on the fusion proteins. Furthermore, the heat-induced secondary structural changes and thermal inactivation curves of GST-ATSalpha deletion mutants indicated that the introduction of ATSalpha-derived peptides does not significantly affect the intrinsic stability of the fusion proteins.     

Design of Hyperthermophilic Lipase Chimeras by Key Motif‐Directed Recombination

Recombination of diverse natural evolved domains within a superfamily offers greater opportunity for enzyme function leaps. How to recombine protein modules from distant parents with less disruption in cross‐interfaces is a challenging issue. Here, we identified the existence of a key motif, the sequence VVSVN(D)YR, within a structural motif ψ loop in the α/β‐hydrolase fold superfamily, by using a MEME server and the PROMOTIF program. To obtain thermostable lipase‐like enzymes, two chimeras were engineered at the key motif regions through recombination of domains from a mesophilic lipase and a hyperthermophilic esterase/peptidase with amino acid identity less than 21 %. The chimeras retained the desirable substrate preference of their mesophilic parent and exhibited more than 100‐fold increased thermostability at 50 °C. Through site‐directed mutation, we further improved activity of the chimera by 4.6‐fold. The recombination strategy presented here enables the creation of novel catalysts.