Cell-surface displayed expression of single domain antibody against VEGF in E. coli using N-terminal domain of ice nucleation protein (INP)

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Abstract
Angiogenesis is involved in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumor growth, and VEGF is considered as the most important factor in this process. Nowadays, the production of single-domain antibodies (VHH) with the characteristic of inhibiting growth factors in cancer tumors is one of the new strategies for cancer treatment. In the previous research, it was found that camel VHHs isolated from phage display against VEGF play an essential role in inhibiting it. Here, the VHH that had the highest affinity for the VEGF was selected. Ice nucleation protein (INP) was used as anchoring motif for surface expression of E. coli, owing to the efficiency of its N terminal domain, this system is used to express the VHH. Accordingly, a construct harboring the first 537 nucleotide of InaK gene and nucleotide fragments of TEV protease recognition site and VEvhh10 was designed to express this protein in the surface display of E. coli cells. The results showed that the INP anchor is a suitable candidate for promoting the surface expression of VEvhh10 in E. coli. After expression of VEvhh10, isolation and purification were performed using centrifugation and washing, and its binding to VEGF was investigated. The results showed that VEvhh10 successful bind to VEGF and it can be used for therapeutic applications and clinical diagnosis of patients in the future.



Keywords

Subjects


1. Matsumoto, T. and L. Claesson-Welsh, (2001) VEGF receptor signal transduction. Science's STKE, (112): p. re21-re21.
2. Terman, B.I., et al., (1994) VEGF receptor subtypes KDR and FLT1 show different sensitivities to heparin and placenta growth factor. Growth Factors. 11(3): p. 187-195.
3. Lange, C., et al., (2016) Vascular endothelial growth factor: a neurovascular target in neurological diseases. Nature Reviews Neurology. 12(8): p. 439-454.
4. Ferrara, N., (2004) Vascular endothelial growth factor as a target for anticancer therapy. The oncologist. 9(S1): p. 2-10.
5. Crawford, Y. and N. Ferrara, (2009) VEGF inhibition: insights from preclinical and clinical studies. Cell and tissue research. 335(1): p. 261-269.
6. Keyt, B.A., et al., (1996) Identification of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Determinants for Binding KDR and FLT-1 Receptors: GENERATION OF RECEPTOR-SELECTIVE VEGF VARIANTS BY SITE-DIRECTED MUTAGENESIS (∗). Journal of Biological Chemistry. 271(10): p. 5638-5646.
7. Wiesmann, C., et al., (1997) Crystal structure at 1.7 Å resolution of VEGF in complex with domain 2 of the Flt-1 receptor. Cell. 91(5): p. 695-704.
8. Sousa Moreira, I., P. Alexandrino Fernandes, and M. Joao Ramos, (2007) Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition-a critical review. Anti-cancer agents in medicinal chemistry (formerly current medicinal chemistry-anti-cancer agents). 7(2): p. 223-245.
9. Ghavamipour, F., et al., (2014) Development of a highly‐potent anti‐angiogenic VEGF 8–109 heterodimer by directed blocking of its VEGFR‐2 binding site. The FEBS journal. 281(19): p. 4479-4494.
10. Ferrara, N., (2004) Vascular endothelial growth factor: basic science and clinical progress. Endocrine reviews. 25(4): p. 581-611.
11. Bergers, G. and L.E. Benjamin, (2003)Tumorigenesis and the angiogenic switch. Nature reviews cancer. 3(6): p. 401-410.
12. Drevs, J., (2008) VEGF and angiogenesis: implications for breast cancer therapy. European Journal of Cancer Supplements. 6(6): p. 7-13.
13. van Bloois, E., et al., (2011) Decorating microbes: surface display of proteins on Escherichia coli. Trends in biotechnology. 29(2): p. 79-86.
14. Deschacht, N., et al., (2010) A novel promiscuous class of camelid single-domain antibody contributes to the antigen-binding repertoire. The Journal of Immunology. 184(10): p. 5696-5704.
15. Cortez-Retamozo, V., et al., (2004) Efficient cancer therapy with a nanobody-based conjugate. Cancer research. 64(8): p. 2853-2857.
16. Shahangian, S.S., et al., (2015) A conformation-based phage-display panning to screen neutralizing anti-VEGF VHHs with VEGFR2 mimicry behavior. International journal of biological macromolecules. 77: p. 222-234.
17. Bu, D., et al., (2013) Expression and purification of a novel therapeutic single-chain variable fragment antibody against BNP from inclusion bodies of Escherichia coli. Protein expression and purification. 92(2): p. 203-207.
18. Yuasa, N., T. Koyama, and Y. Fujita-Yamaguchi, (2014) Purification and refolding of anti-T-antigen single chain antibodies (scFvs) expressed in Escherichia coli as inclusion bodies. BioScience Trends. 8(1): p. 24-31.
19. Lee, S.Y., J.H. Choi, and Z. Xu, (2003) Microbial cell-surface display. Trends in biotechnology. 21(1): p. 45-52.
20. Park, S.J. and J.R. Cochran, (2009) Protein engineering and design.: CRC press.
21. Li, Q., et al., (2012) Molecular characterization of an ice nucleation protein variant (inaQ) from Pseudomonas syringae and the analysis of its transmembrane transport activity in Escherichia coli. International journal of biological sciences. 8(8): p. 1097.
22. Bao, S., et al., (2015) Construction of a cell‐surface display system based on the N‐terminal domain of ice nucleation protein and its application in identification of mycoplasma adhesion proteins. Journal of applied microbiology. 119(1): p. 236-244.
23. Laemmli, U.K., (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. nature. 227(5259): p. 680-685.
24. Rezaei, S., et al., (2020) Soluble overexpression, high-level production and purification of receptor binding domain of human VEGF8-109 in E. coli. Process Biochemistry. 96: p. 228-238.
25. Ramakrishnan, S., et al., (1996) Free alanine, aspartic acid, or glutamic acid reduce the glycation of human lens proteins. Glycoconjugate journal. 13(4): p. 519-523.
26. Bradford, N., (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation microgram quantities of a protein isolated from red cell membranes. Anal. Biochem. 72(248): p. e254.
27. Griffioen, A.W. and G. Molema, (2000) Angiogenesis: potentials for pharmacologic intervention in the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic inflammation. Pharmacological reviews. 52(2): p. 237-268.
28. Cao, Y. (2004) Antiangiogenic cancer therapy. in Seminars in cancer biology. Elsevier.
29. Tabernero, J., (2007) The role of VEGF and EGFR inhibition: implications for combining anti–VEGF and anti–EGFR agents. Molecular cancer research. 5(3): p. 203-220.
30. Scott, A.M., J.D. Wolchok, and L.J. Old, (2012) Antibody therapy of cancer. Nature reviews cancer. 12(4): p. 278-287.
31. Quintero-Hernández, V., et al., (2007) The change of the scFv into the Fab format improves the stability and in vivo toxin neutralization capacity of recombinant antibodies. Molecular Immunology. 44(6): p. 1307-1315.
32. Revets, H., P. De Baetselier, and S. Muyldermans, (2005) Nanobodies as novel agents for cancer therapy. Expert opinion on biological therapy. 5(1): p. 111-124.
33. Unciti-Broceta, J.D., et al., (2013) Novel therapy based on camelid nanobodies. Therapeutic delivery. 4(10): p. 1321-1336.
34. Chakravarty, R., S. Goel, and W. Cai, (2014) Nanobody: the “magic bullet” for molecular imaging? Theranostics. 4(4): p. 386.
35. Veggiani, G. and A. de Marco, (2011) Improved quantitative and qualitative production of single-domain intrabodies mediated by the co-expression of Erv1p sulfhydryl oxidase. Protein expression and purification. 79(1): p. 111-114.
36. Narang, A.S. and R.I. Mahato, (2010)Targeted delivery of small and macromolecular drugs: CRC press.
37. Kotrba, P., (2011) Microbial biosorption of metals—general introduction, in Microbial biosorption of metals. Springer. p. 1-6.
38. Kwak, Y.-D., S.-K. Yoo, and E.-J. Kim, (1999) Cell surface display of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp120 on Escherichia coli by using ice nucleation protein. Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology. 6(4): p. 499-503.