Nk. Shin et al., A NOVEL TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR-ALPHA MUTANT WITH SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCED CYTOTOXICITY AND RECEPTOR-BINDING AFFINITY, Biochemistry and molecular biology international, 44(6), 1998, pp. 1075-1082
A novel tumor necrosis factor-alpha mutant (mutant M3), in which Ser a
nd Tyr at positions 52 and 56 were substituted by lie and Phe, respect
ively, along with deletion of 7 N-terminal amino acids, was prepared a
nd its biological activities were investigated. The mutant exhibited a
14- to 24-fold increase in the cytotoxicity relative to the wildtype
TNF on various cancer cell lines. The binding affinity of the mutant t
o TNF-R55 and TNF-R75 receptors was over 10-fold higher than that of t
he wild-type. TNF-alpha and the mutant show similar CD spectra in the
far-UV region, indicating that the overall structure was not influence
d by the mutations. The production of highly potent TNF-alpha mutant u
tilizing increase of hydrophobicity in the region 52-56 may provide a
structural basis for a design of optimized TNF-alpha as a therapeutic
purpose.