Efficiency of erythropoietin's signal peptide for HIVMN-1 gp 120 expression

The HIV-1 gp120 gene with natural signal sequence expressed in eukaryotic e xpression systems showed extremely low levels of synthesis and secretion. S everal expression systems have been used to improve the secretion levels of gp 120, In mammalian cells, the efficient expression of gp120 fused to BPA signal peptide has been previously reported. Here, the effects of t-PA and EPO signal peptides were compared as secretion sequences for expression of gp120 in COS-7 cells. The EPO's signal peptide is used for the first time as leader sequence for secretion of foreign proteins. Our results indicated that higher amounts of secreted gp 120 were obtained when vectors containi ng EPO signal peptide were used, (C) 2000 Academic Press.