Dl. Newton et al., EXPRESSION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN EOSINOPHIL-DERIVED NEUROTOXIN AND EOSINOPHIL-DERIVED NEUROTOXIN-ANTI-TRANSFERRIN RECEPTOR SFV, The Journal of biological chemistry, 269(43), 1994, pp. 26739-26745
The gene for the human recombinant eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (rEDN
) was synthesized and fused to the gene encoding a single chain antibo
dy (sFv) to the human transferrin receptor (EDNsFv). Both rEDN and EDN
sFv were expressed as insoluble proteins in inclusion bodies in Escher
ichia coli BL21(DE3). Following denaturation and renaturation, EDN and
EDNsFv were partially purified by chromatography on heparin-Sepharose
. Final purification of EDN was achieved by Sephadex G-100, whereas ED
NsFv which contained a g-histidyl residue carboxyl terminus was highly
purified using the metal chelate resin, Ni2+-nitriloacetic acid. Wher
eas the recombinant EDN had ribonuclease activity that was similar to
the native protein, the fusion protein had enzymatic activity that was
6-13% that of native EDN. The fusion protein was able to bind to the
human transferrin receptor. In contrast to rEDN that had no inherent c
ytotoxicity to human tumor cells, the EDNsFv fusion protein was cytoto
xic to human leukemia cells that express the human transferrin recepto
r with an IC50, 0.2-1 nM. At 1.3 nM EDNsFv, no cytotoxicity was observ
ed on cells that lack the human transferrin receptor. Free antibody to
the human transferrin receptor, E6, inhibited the cytotoxicity of the
EDNsFv. Human enzymes may be engineered to acquire cytotoxic properti
es by fusing them to antibodies. Thus, they may be candidates for the
construction of immunofusion proteins that may be less immunogenic tha
n immunotoxins containing bacterial- or plant-derived toxin moieties.