Characterization of a Human Antibody Fragment Fab and Its Calcium Phosphate Nanoparticles that Inhibit Rabies Virus Infection with Vaccine

Recombinant antibody phage display technology has been used to mimic many aspects of the processes that govern the generation and selection of high-affinity natural human antibodies in the human immune system, especially for infectious disease prophylaxis. An anti-rabies virus immunized phage-display Fab library was constructed from peripheral blood lymphocytes from vaccinated volunteers. The immunized antibody library, with a diversity of 6.7×108, was used to select and produce antibodies that bound to rabies virus glycoprotein. After five rounds of immobilized fixed rabies virion panning, four unique DNA sequences were found in the higher binding clones, and only one, Fab094, showed neutralization activity. Fab094 components were analyzed by ELISA, immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescent staining. ELISA and immunofluorescence showed that Fab094 bound specifically to rabies virions. Immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry showed that Fab094 reacted with rabies virus glycoprotein. To improve the penetration power of Fab094 antibodies, we developed Fab094 calcium phosphate nanoparticles (Fab094-CPNPs) and tested their efficacy. The rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test indicated that the neutralizing antibody titers of Fab094 and Fab094-CPNPs were reached at 200.17 IU/Kg and 246.12 IU/Kg, respectively. These findings were confirmed in vivo in a Kunming mouse challenge model. Our results demonstrate that human Fab094 and Fab094-CPNPs are efficacious candidate drugs to replace rabies immunoglobulin in post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)

Development of a Tetrameric Streptavidin Mutein with Reversible Biotin Binding Capability: Engineering a Mobile Loop as an Exit Door for Biotin

A novel form of tetrameric streptavidin has been engineered to have reversible biotin binding capability. In wild-type streptavidin, loop3–4 functions as a lid for the entry and exit of biotin. When biotin is bound, interactions between biotin and key residues in loop3–4 keep this lid in the closed state. In the engineered mutein, a second biotin exit door is created by changing the amino acid sequence of loop7–8. This door is mobile even in the presence of the bound biotin and can facilitate the release of biotin from the mutein. Since loop7–8 is involved in subunit interactions, alteration of this loop in the engineered mutein results in an 11° rotation between the two dimers in reference to wild-type streptavidin. The tetrameric state of the engineered mutein is stabilized by a H127C mutation, which leads to the formation of inter-subunit disulfide bonds. The biotin binding kinetic parameters (koff of 4.28×10−4 s−1 and Kd of 1.9×10−8 M) make this engineered mutein a superb affinity agent for the purification of biotinylated biomolecules. Affinity matrices can be regenerated using gentle procedures, and regenerated matrices can be reused at least ten times without any observable reduction in binding capacity. With the combination of both the engineered mutein and wild-type streptavidin, biotinylated biomolecules can easily be affinity purified to high purity and immobilized to desirable platforms without any leakage concerns. Other potential biotechnological applications, such as development of an automated high-throughput protein purification system, are feasible

Structural studies of the streptavidin binding loop

The streptavidin-biotin complex provides the basis for many important biotechnological applications and is an interesting model system for studying high-affinity protein-ligand interactions. We report here crystallographic studies elucidating the conformation of the flexible binding loop of streptavidin (residues 45 to 52) in the unbound and bound forms. The crystal structures of unbound streptavidin have been determined in two monoclinic crystal forms. The binding loop generally adopts an open conformation in the unbound species. In one subunit of one crystal form, the flexible loop adopts the closed conformation and an analysis of packing interactions suggests that protein-protein contacts stabilize the closed loop conformation. In the other crystal form all loops adopt an open conformation. Co-crystallization of streptavidin and biotin resulted in two additional, different crystal forms, with ligand bound in all four binding sites of the first crystal form and biotin bound in only two subunits in a second. The major change associated with binding of biotin is the closure of the surface loop incorporating residues 45 to 52. Residues 49 to 52 display a 3(10) helical conformation in unbound subunits of our structures as opposed to the disordered loops observed in other structure determinations of streptavidin. In addition, the open conformation is stabilized by a beta-sheet hydrogen bond between residues 45 and 52, which cannot occur in the closed conformation. The 3(10) helix is observed in nearly all unbound subunits of both the co-crystallized and ligand-free structures. An analysis of the temperature factors of the binding loop regions suggests that the mobility of the closed loops in the complexed structures is lower than in the open loops of the ligand-free structures. The two biotin bound subunits in the tetramer found in the MONO-b1 crystal form are those that contribute Trp 120 across their respective binding pockets, suggesting a structural link between these binding sites in the tetramer. However, there are no obvious signatures of binding site communication observed upon ligand binding, such as quaternary structure changes or shifts in the region of Trp 120. These studies demonstrate that while crystallographic packing interactions can stabilize both the open and closed forms of the flexible loop, in their absence the loop is open in the unbound state and closed in the presence of biotin. If present in solution, the helical structure in the open loop conformation could moderate the entropic penalty associated with biotin binding by contributing an order-to-disorder component to the loop closure

Hyaluronic acid grafting mitigates calcification of glutaraldehyde-fixed bovine pericardium.

Pathologic calcification is the leading cause of the clinical failure of glutaraldehyde-fixed bovine pericardium used in bioprosthetic valves. A novel surface modification of glutaraldehyde fixed bovine pericardium was carried out with high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HA). HA was chemically modified with adipic dihydrazide (ADH) to introduce hydrazide functional groups onto the HA backbone. Glutaraldehyde-fixed bovine pericardium (GFBP) was modified by grafting this HA to the free aldehyde groups on the tissue via the hydrazide groups. Following a 2-week subcutaneous implantation in osteopontin (OPN)-null mice, the calcification of HA-modified bovine pericardium was drastically reduced (by 84.5%) compared to positive controls (tissue without HA-modification) (p = 0.005). The calcification-mitigating effect of HA surface modification was also confirmed by microscopic analysis of explanted tissue stained with Alizarin Red S for calcium. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.X1125sciescopu

Anti-inflammatory drug delivery from hyaluronic aicd hydrogels.

Two different types of hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels were synthesized by crosslinking HA with divinyl sulfone (DVS) and poly(ethylene glycol)-divinyl sulfone (VS-PEG-VS). Vitamin E succinate (VES), an anti-inflammatory drug, and bovine serum albumin (BSA), a model of anti-inflammatory protein drugs, were loaded into the gels and their release kinetics were measured in vitro. VES and BSA released with a burst from both HA hydrogels during the first few hours, and release continued gradually for several days. The rate of release from HA-VS-PEG-VS-HA hydrogels was faster than that from HA-DVS-HA hydrogels, presumably due to the lower crosslink density in the former. The anti-inflammatory action of released VES was tested by incubating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) on HA hydrogels with and without VES in the gel. The number of cells adhering on HA hydrogels was very low compared to that on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS),which might be one of the important advantages of using HA hydrogels for implant coatings or tissue engineering applications. ELISA test results showed that the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) concentration was very low in the supernatant of the wells containing the HA hydrogel with VES in contact with the activated macrophages compared to that without VES. This is probably the effect of the released VES reducing the production of anti-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-alpha. HA hydrogels containing anti-inflammatory drugs may have potential for use in tissue engineering and also as biocompatible coatings of implants.X1168sciescopu

Ser45 plays an important role in managing both the equilibrium and transition state energetics of the streptavidin-biotin system

The contribution of the Ser45 hydrogen bond to biotin binding activation and equilibrium thermodynamics was investigated by biophysical and X-ray crystallographic studies. The S45A mutant exhibits a 1,700-fold greater dissociation rate and 907-fold lower equilibrium affinity for biotin relative to wild-type streptavidin at 37 degrees C, indicating a crucial role in binding energetics. The crystal structure of the biotin-bound mutant reveals only small changes from the wild-type bound structure, and the remaining hydrogen bonds to biotin retain approximately the same lengths. No additional water molecules are observed to replace the missing hydroxyl, in contrast to the previously studied D128A mutant. The equilibrium deltaG degrees, deltaH degrees, deltaS degrees, deltaC degrees(p), and activation deltaG++ of S45A at 37 degrees C are 13.7+/-0.1 kcal/mol, -21.1+/-0.5 kcal/mol, -23.7+/-1.8 cal/mol K, -223+/-12 cal/mol K, and 20.0+/-2.5 kcal/mol, respectively. Eyring analysis of the large temperature dependence of the S45A off-rate resolves the deltaH++ and deltaS++ of dissociation, 25.8+/-1.2 kcal/mol and 18.7+/-4.3 cal/mol K. The large increases of deltaH++ and deltaS++ in the mutant, relative to wild-type, indicate that Ser45 could form a hydrogen bond with biotin in the wild-type dissociation transition state, enthalpically stabilizing it, and constraining the transition state entropically. The postulated existence of a Ser45-mediated hydrogen bond in the wild-type streptavidin transition state is consistent with potential of mean force simulations of the dissociation pathway and with molecular dynamics simulations of biotin pullout, where Ser45 is seen to form a hydrogen bond with the ureido oxygen as biotin slips past this residue after breaking the native hydrogen bonds

Thermodynamic and structural consequences of flexible loop deletion by circular permutation in the streptavidin-biotin system

A circularly permuted streptavidin (CP51/46) has been designed to remove the flexible polypeptide loop that undergoes an open to closed conformational change when biotin is bound. The original termini have been joined by a tetrapeptide linker, and four loop residues have been removed, resulting in the creation of new N- and C-termini. Isothermal titration calorimetric studies show that the association constant has been reduced approximately six orders of magnitude below that of wild-type streptavidin to 10(7) M(-1). The deltaH degrees of biotin association for CP51/46 is reduced by 11.1 kcal/mol. Crystal structures of CP51/46 and its biotin complex show no significant alterations in the binding site upon removal of the loop. A hydrogen bond between Ser45 and Ser52 found in the absence of biotin is broken in the closed conformation as the side-chain hydroxyl of Ser45 moves to hydrogen bond to a ureido nitrogen of biotin. This is true in both the wild-type and CP51/46 forms of the protein, and the hydrogen bonding interaction might thus help nucleate closure of the loop. The reduced entropic cost of binding biotin to CP51/46 is consistent with the removal of this loop and a reduction in entropic costs associated with loop closure and immobilization. The reduced enthalpic contribution to the free energy of binding is not readily explainable in terms of the molecular structure, as the binding contacts are nearly entirely conserved, and only small differences in solvent accessible surfaces are observed relative to wild-type streptavidin