Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems

Despite the multitude of anticancer cytostatic drugs available to oncologists today, most of such drugs have serious side effects that may preclude their use in some groups of patients. Hence, selective induction of apoptosis in cancer but not normal cells remains an attractive goal of molecular med...

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Main Authors: O. A. Koval, O. Y. Volkova, A. A. Gorchakov, S. V. Kulemzin, A. V. Tkachenko, A. A. Nushtaeva, E. V. Kuligina, V. A. Richter, A. V. Taranin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics, The Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders 2017-12-01
Series:Вавиловский журнал генетики и селекции
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Online Access:https://vavilov.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/1222
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author O. A. Koval
O. Y. Volkova
A. A. Gorchakov
S. V. Kulemzin
A. V. Tkachenko
A. A. Nushtaeva
E. V. Kuligina
V. A. Richter
A. V. Taranin
author_facet O. A. Koval
O. Y. Volkova
A. A. Gorchakov
S. V. Kulemzin
A. V. Tkachenko
A. A. Nushtaeva
E. V. Kuligina
V. A. Richter
A. V. Taranin
author_sort O. A. Koval
collection DOAJ
description Despite the multitude of anticancer cytostatic drugs available to oncologists today, most of such drugs have serious side effects that may preclude their use in some groups of patients. Hence, selective induction of apoptosis in cancer but not normal cells remains an attractive goal of molecular medicine. Lactaptin, a proteolytic fragment of the human milk kappa-casein, has been previously identified as a protein displaying potent killing of cancer cells in vitro. Its recombinant analog (RL2) produced in E. coli has been shown to delay solid tumor growth in vivo. Given that lactaptin is of human origin and is not immunogenic, it can be administered to patients multiple times without running the risk of immune response that could dampen the therapy efficacy. In the present study, we demonstrate that the combination of RL2 and cyclophosphamide treatments has an additive therapeutic effect against hepatoma tumor in immunocompetent mice. We asked whether production of lactaptin in human rather than bacterial cells would result in a protein with increased cytotoxic activity. Using lentiviral vector pCDH as a backbone, two constructs, pEL1 and pEL2, encoding secreted forms of lactaptin that differ in their signal sequences were created. Lactaptin expression in human cell lines was confirmed using Western-blot analysis, whereas ELISA was used for quantification of secreted lactaptin. Next, we measured the cytotoxic effects of the media conditioned by pEL1-transfected HEK293T cells, as assayed against the panel of three human cancer cell lines: MDA-MB-231 (adenocarcinoma), PC3 (prostate cancer), and T98G (glioblastoma). We show that EL1-derived lactaptin is at least 100-fold more cytotoxic than RL2. Taken together, our results provide an opportunity for developing armored immune cells as an “off-the-shelf” platform for targeted delivery of lactaptin to cancer cells.
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publisher Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics, The Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders
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spelling doaj-art-3ceee83571df4a258286e670dbc8a57b2025-02-01T09:58:05ZengSiberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics, The Vavilov Society of Geneticists and BreedersВавиловский журнал генетики и селекции2500-32592017-12-0121776476910.18699/VJ17.292680Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systemsO. A. Koval0O. Y. Volkova1A. A. Gorchakov2S. V. Kulemzin3A. V. Tkachenko4A. A. Nushtaeva5E. V. Kuligina6V. A. Richter7A. V. Taranin8Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS; Novosibirsk State University.Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS.Novosibirsk State University; Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS.Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS.Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS.Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS.Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS.Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS.Novosibirsk State University; Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS.Despite the multitude of anticancer cytostatic drugs available to oncologists today, most of such drugs have serious side effects that may preclude their use in some groups of patients. Hence, selective induction of apoptosis in cancer but not normal cells remains an attractive goal of molecular medicine. Lactaptin, a proteolytic fragment of the human milk kappa-casein, has been previously identified as a protein displaying potent killing of cancer cells in vitro. Its recombinant analog (RL2) produced in E. coli has been shown to delay solid tumor growth in vivo. Given that lactaptin is of human origin and is not immunogenic, it can be administered to patients multiple times without running the risk of immune response that could dampen the therapy efficacy. In the present study, we demonstrate that the combination of RL2 and cyclophosphamide treatments has an additive therapeutic effect against hepatoma tumor in immunocompetent mice. We asked whether production of lactaptin in human rather than bacterial cells would result in a protein with increased cytotoxic activity. Using lentiviral vector pCDH as a backbone, two constructs, pEL1 and pEL2, encoding secreted forms of lactaptin that differ in their signal sequences were created. Lactaptin expression in human cell lines was confirmed using Western-blot analysis, whereas ELISA was used for quantification of secreted lactaptin. Next, we measured the cytotoxic effects of the media conditioned by pEL1-transfected HEK293T cells, as assayed against the panel of three human cancer cell lines: MDA-MB-231 (adenocarcinoma), PC3 (prostate cancer), and T98G (glioblastoma). We show that EL1-derived lactaptin is at least 100-fold more cytotoxic than RL2. Taken together, our results provide an opportunity for developing armored immune cells as an “off-the-shelf” platform for targeted delivery of lactaptin to cancer cells.https://vavilov.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/1222lactaptinproapoptotic proteinsantitumor therapylentiviral expression constructs
spellingShingle O. A. Koval
O. Y. Volkova
A. A. Gorchakov
S. V. Kulemzin
A. V. Tkachenko
A. A. Nushtaeva
E. V. Kuligina
V. A. Richter
A. V. Taranin
Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
Вавиловский журнал генетики и селекции
lactaptin
proapoptotic proteins
antitumor therapy
lentiviral expression constructs
title Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
title_full Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
title_fullStr Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
title_full_unstemmed Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
title_short Comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
title_sort comparative analysis of lactaptin activity when produced in bacterial or eukaryotic expression systems
topic lactaptin
proapoptotic proteins
antitumor therapy
lentiviral expression constructs
url https://vavilov.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/1222
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AT svkulemzin comparativeanalysisoflactaptinactivitywhenproducedinbacterialoreukaryoticexpressionsystems
AT avtkachenko comparativeanalysisoflactaptinactivitywhenproducedinbacterialoreukaryoticexpressionsystems
AT aanushtaeva comparativeanalysisoflactaptinactivitywhenproducedinbacterialoreukaryoticexpressionsystems
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