15 research outputs found
Design and validation of an immuno-PCR assay for IFN-α2b quantification in human plasma
Aim: Nowadays, IFN-α is considered a promising therapeutic target for systemic lupus erythematosus. An immuno-PCR (iPCR) was developed to quantify low amounts of IFN-α in human plasma followed by a deep analysis of the methodologic robustness throughout quality by design approach. Results: An accurate, sensitive, selective and versatile iPCR was validated. The critical iPCR procedural steps were identified, applying a Plackett-Burman design. Also, this assay demonstrated an outstanding LOD of 0.3 pg/ml. A significant aspect relies on its high versatility to detect and quantify other cytokines in human plasma as the appropriate biotinylated antibody is employed. Conclusion: This reliable iPCR assay can be clinically used as an alternative method for quantitating and detecting low IFN-α2b concentrations in human plasma samples.Fil: RodrĂguez, MarĂa Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Attallah, Carolina Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Lozano, Victoria. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentin
A versatile ionic strength sensitive tag from a human GM CSF derived linear epitope
A 7-mer hGM-CSF-derived linear epitope (APARSPS) is herein described as a novel and small tag taking into account its particular binding affinity in native conditions that could be easily modified by increasing or lowering the ionic strength. Thus, a 3.4 or 3.8-fold binding increment was observed in high NaCl concentration when the tag was fused to IFN-α2b or when the peptide was in its native environment, respectively. The high salt concentration increased the affinity of the binding interaction and improved the APARSPS epitope binding to the paratope allowing one to design an immunoaffinity chromatography purification step in which the high ionic strength was useful to adsorb the fusion protein to the immunoaffinity matrix and the low ionic strength at pH 9 was valuable to desorb it (a 470-fold purification with a 94%-purity was attained in only one step). Also, this short tag did not affect the functionality of the fusion protein and it was able to be detected both in the natural molecule (hGM-CSF) as in the tagged one with the same high detection limit: 273 pg of each protein.Fil: Perotti, Norma Maria. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquimica y Ciencias Biologicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquimica y Ciencias Biologicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquimica y Ciencias Biologicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquimica y Ciencias Biologicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentin
A highly efficient modified human serum albumin signal peptide to secrete proteins in cells derived from different mammalian species
Signal peptides (SPs) are key elements in the production of recombinant proteins; however, little information is available concerning different SP in mammalian cells other than CHO. In order to study the efficiency of different SPs to direct the traffic along the secretory pathway of the green fluorescence protein (GFP) and a scFv-Fc fusion protein; CHO-K1, HEK293 and NS0 cell lines were transfected in a transient and stable way. SP of human azurocidin (AZ), modified human albumin (mSA), modified Cricetulus griseus Ig kappa chain V III region MOPC 63 like (mIgÎș C) and modified human Ig kappa chain V III region VG (mIgÎș H) were evaluated. The efficiency of SPs to translocate a propeptide across the ER membrane was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry for the GFP inside the secretory pathway, and by antigen-specific indirect ELISA for the scFv-Fc outside the cell. The mSA SP was successful in directing the secretion of the active proteins in these different types of mammalian cells, regardless of the transgene copy number. The goal of this work was to demonstrate that a modified version of SA SP might be used in different mammalian cells employing the same expression vector.Fil: Attallah, Carolina Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentin
Influence of carbohydrates on the stability and structure of a hyperglycosylated human interferon alpha mutein
Protein physical and chemical instability is one of the major challenges in the development of biopharmaceuticals during every step of the process, ranging from production to final delivery. This is particularly applicable to human recombinant interferon alpha-2b (rhIFN-α2b), a pleiotropic cytokine currently used worldwide for the treatment of various cancer and chronic viral diseases, which presents a poor stability in solution. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that the introduction of four N-glycosylation sites in order to construct a heavily glycosylated IFN variant (4N-IFN) resulted in a markedly prolonged plasma half-life which was reflected in an enhanced therapeutic activity in mice in comparison with the commercial non-glycosylated rhIFN-α2b (NG-IFN). Herein, we evaluated the influence of glycosylation on the in vitro stability of 4N-IFN towards different environmental conditions. Interestingly, the hyperglycosylated cytokine showed enhanced stability against thermal stress, acid pH and repetitive freeze-thawing cycles in comparison with NG-IFN. Besides, microcalorimetric analysis indicated a much higher melting temperature of 4N-IFN, also demonstrating a higher solubility of this variant as denoted by the absence of precipitation at the end of the experiment, in contrast with the NG-IFN behaviour. Furthermore, far-UV circular dichroism (CD) spectrum of 4N-IFN was virtually superimposed with that of NG-IFN, indicating that the IFN structure was not altered by the addition of carbohydrate moieties. The same conclusion could be inferred from limited proteolysis studies. Our results suggest that glycoengineering could be a useful strategy for protecting rhIFN-α2b from inactivation by various external factors and for overcoming aggregation problems during the production process and storage.Fil: Ceaglio, Natalia Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentin
A scFv antibody fragment as a therapeutic candidate to neutralize a broad diversity of human IFN-alpha subtypes
Despite their significant role in maintaining the normal physiology, cytokines may cause pathological conditions when they are overproduced. In this way, the increased expression of human interferon alpha (hIFN-α) is associated with acute viral infections, inflammatory disorders and several autoimmune illnesses, where the cytokine may be a factor in either initiating or maintaining the disease. Currently, there are several mAbs marketed for a variety of indications and many more in clinical trials, in which IFN-α represents a potential target for antibody-based therapy. A panel of 11 murine mAbs was prepared using recombinant hIFN-α2b as immunogen, all of which bound to the native form of the cytokine with affinity constants ranging from 1.7 Ă 107 M- 1 to 1.4 Ă 1010 M- 1. An epitope mapping protocol demonstrated four spatially distinct areas of the protein recognized by the mAbs. Taking into account the characterization of the antibodies and their ability to inhibit the IFN-α biological activity, four mAbs were selected to produce scFv fragments. One of these fragments (CA5E6) was able to neutralize a wide spectrum of subtypes of the IFN-α family, including the recombinant cytokines hIFN-α2a and hIFN-α2b and a heterogeneous collection of IFN-α produced by activated leukocytes and Namalwa cells. With the aim of improving the affinity of the selected fragment, a standard error-prone PCR method was carried out. By using this strategy, it was possible to generate a new fragment (EP18) with increased affinity and ability to neutralize a broad diversity of IFN-α subtypes. Consequently, the scFv EP18 represents a potential therapeutic agent for those immune and inflammatory diseases which are associated with an increased IFN-α expression.Fil: Depetris, M.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Casalis, P.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentin
Methodological aspects of Universal immuno-PCR on standard tubes
One of the most used formats in inmuno-polymerase chain reaction (IPCR) is known as "Universal" IPCR (signal-generating complexes is based on conjugates of biotinylated DNA, biotinylated IgG and avidin). In the present study, we evaluated the utility of using mono- and bi-biotinylated DNA probes, pre-self-assembled DNA-neutravidin complex, blocking step and glutaraldehyde pretreatment of standard PCR tubes to improve the analytical performance of the hTSH-IPCR assay. The use of pre-self-assembled mono-biotinylated DNA-neutravidin complex enhances both the sensitivity and the reproducibility of the hTSH-IPCR assay, even without blocking step: hTSH-IPCR assay showed an improved limit of detection (LOD: 0.01 ÎŒIU/ml), calibration sensitivity (SEN: 2.4) and analytic sensitivity (Îł: 9 ÎŒIU/ml â1 ) in comparison with both a self-made ELISA and a commercial one.Fil: Abud, JuliĂĄn ElĂas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: SantamarĂa, Clarisa Guillermina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Horacio Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; Argentin
Bifunctional GM-CSF-derived peptides as tools for O-glycoengineering and protein tagging
Rapid development of effective biotherapeutics has been a concern during the last couple decades. In our work we designed two novel peptide tags, GMOP and mGMOP, derived from the N-terminal region of human granulocyte and macrophage colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF), which contain four and six potential O-glycosylation sites, respectively. These peptide tags were fused to the N-terminus of human interferon-α2b (hIFN-α2b), a therapeutic antiviral and antiproliferative protein rapidly cleared from circulation. Two new molecules were obtained which, consistently with the presence of O-glycans, showed higher molecular masses, more negatively charged isoforms, and higher sialic acid content compared to wild-type IFN. In vitro bioactivity of purified chimeras revealed a similar antiviral specific biological activity (SBA) compared to unmodified IFN. A reduction of antiproliferative SBA was only observed for mGMOP-IFN. Pharmacokinetic studies in rats showed a notable improvement in terminal half-life (t1/2elim) (3.3 and 2.8 times-longer) and a marked reduction of the apparent clearance (CLapp, 3.7 and 4.1-fold lower for GMOP-IFN and mGMOP-IFN in comparison with native IFN, respectively). Furthermore, the in vitro thermal and plasma stability of both proteins was improved. Finally, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that recognizes an N-terminal GM-CSF epitope was able to bind both chimeras in western blots and ELISAs. This demonstrates the potential of both peptides to behave as bifunctional tags to create novel long-acting biotherapeutics and to facilitate detection and purification.Fil: Sales, MarĂa de Los Milagros. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Ceaglio, Natalia Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentin
Changes in antibody binding and functionality after humanizing a murine scFv anti-IFN-α2: From in silico studies to experimental analysis
The structural and dynamic changes introduced during antibody humanization continue to be a topic open to new contributions. For this reason, the study of structural and functional changes of a murine scFv (mu.scFv) anti-rhIFN-α2b after humanization was carried out. As it was shown by long molecular dynamics simulations and circular dichroism analysis, changes in primary sequence affected the tertiary structure of the humanized scFv (hz.scFv): the position of the variable domain of light chain (VL) respective to the variable domain of heavy chain (VH) in each scFv molecule was different. This change mainly impacted on conformation and dynamics of the complementarity-determining region 3 of VH (CDR-H3) which led to changes in the specificity and affinity of humanized scFv (hz.scFv). These observations agree with experimental results that showed a decrease in the antigen-binding strength of hz.scFv, and different capacities of these molecules to neutralize the in vitro rhIFN-α2b biological activity. Besides, experimental studies to characterize antigen-antibody binding showed that mu.scFv and hz.scFv bind to the same antigen area and recognize a conformational epitope, which is evidence of docking results. Finally, the differences between these molecules to neutralize the in vitro rhIFN-α2b biological activity were described as a consequence of the blockade of certain functionally relevant amino acids of the cytokine, after scFv binding. All these observations confirmed that humanization affected the affinity and specificity of hz.scFv and pointed out that two specific changes in the frameworks would be responsible.Fil: Aguilar, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas; ArgentinaFil: Garay, Alberto Sergio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas; ArgentinaFil: Attallah, Carolina Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas; ArgentinaFil: Rodrigues, Daniel Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo TecnolĂłgico para la Industria QuĂmica. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo TecnolĂłgico para la Industria QuĂmica; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo TecnolĂłgico para la Industria QuĂmica. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo TecnolĂłgico para la Industria QuĂmica; Argentin
Highly glycosylated human alpha interferon: An insight into a new therapeutic candidate
The type I human interferon alpha (hIFN-α) family consists of small proteins that exert a multiplicity of biological actions including antiviral, antiproliferative and immunomodulatory effects. However, though administration of recombinant hIFN-α2b is the current treatment for chronic hepatitis B and C and for some types of cancers, therapy outcomes have not been completely satisfactory. The short serum half-life and rapid clearance of the cytokine accounts for its low in vivo biological activity. Here we describe and characterize a long-acting rhIFN-α2b mutein, 4N-IFN, which has been created by introducing four N-glycosylation sites via site-directed mutagenesis. The hyperglycosylated protein was found to have a 25-fold longer plasma half-life than the non-glycosylated rhIFN-α2b, even greater than the commercial pegylated derivative Intron-A PEG. In addition, glycosylation increased the in vitro stability of the mutein against serum protease inactivation. Interestingly, despite its lower in vitro activity, 4N-IFN showed a markedly enhanced in vivo antitumor activity in human prostate carcinoma implanted in nude mice. MALDI-TOF MS and HPAEC-PAD carbohydrate analyses revealed the presence of high amounts of tetrasialylated (40%) and trisialylated (28%) N-glycan structures, which are consequently responsible for the improved characteristics of the cytokine, making 4N-IFN a new therapeutic candidate for viral and malignant diseases.Fil: Ceaglio, Natalia Analia. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Conradt, Harald S.. GlycoThera GmbH; AlemaniaFil: Grammel, NicolĂĄs. GlycoThera GmbH; AlemaniaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentin
Improvement of in vitro stability and pharmacokinetics of hIFN-α by fusing the carboxyl-terminal peptide of hCG ÎČ-subunit
Improving in vivo half-life and in vitro stability of protein-based therapeutics is a current challenge for the biopharmaceutical industry. In particular, recombinant human interferon alpha-2b (rhIFN-α2b), which belongs to a group of cytokines extensively used for the treatment of viral diseases and cancers, shows a poor stability in solution and an extremely short plasma half-life which determines a strict therapeutic regimen comprising high and repeated doses. In this work, we have used a strategy based on the fusion of the carboxyl-terminal peptide (CTP) of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) ÎČ-subunit, bearing four O-linked oligosaccharide recognition sites, to each or both N- and C-terminal ends of rhIFN-α2b. Molecules containing from 5 (CTP-IFN and IFN-CTP) to 9 (CTP-IFN-CTP) O-glycosylation sites were efficiently expressed and secreted to CHO cells supernatants, and exhibited antiviral and antiproliferative bioactivities in vitro. Significant improvements in pharmacokinetics in rats were achieved through this approach, since the doubly CTP-modified IFN variant showed a 10-fold longer elimination half-life and a 19-fold decreased plasma apparent clearance compared to the wild-type cytokine. Moreover, CTP-IFN-CTP demonstrated a significant increase in in vitro thermal resistance and a higher stability against plasma protease inactivation, both features attributed to the stabilizing effects of the O-glycans provided by the CTP moiety. These results constitute the first report that postulates CTP as a tag for improving both the in vitro and in vivo stability of rhIFN-α2b which, in turn, would positively influence its in vivo bioactivity.Fil: Ceaglio, Natalia Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Gugliotta, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Tardivo, MarĂa BelĂ©n. Zelltek S.A.; ArgentinaFil: Cravero, Dianela. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Etcheverrigaray, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Kratje, Ricardo Bertoldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; ArgentinaFil: Oggero Eberhardt, Marcos Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de BioquĂmica y Ciencias BiolĂłgicas. Laboratorio de Cultivos Celulares; Argentin