Development of a long-acting Fc-fused cocaine hydrolase with improved yield of protein expression

Publication date: Available online 12 April 2019Source: Chemico-Biological InteractionsAuthor(s): Xiabin Chen, Jing Deng, Xirong Zheng, Jinling Zhang, Ziyuan Zhou, Huimei Wei, Chang-Guo Zhan, Fang ZhengAbstractHuman butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is known as a safe and effective protein for detoxification of organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents. Its rationally designed mutants with considerably improved catalytic activity against cocaine, known as cocaine hydrolases (CocHs), are recognized as the most promising drug candidates for the treatment of cocaine abuse. However, it is a grand challenge to efficiently produce active recombinant BChE and CocHs with a sufficiently long biological half-life. In the present study, starting from a promising CocH, known as CocH3 (i.e. A199S/F227A/S287G/A328W/Y332G mutant of human BChE), which has a ∼2000-fold improved catalytic activity against cocaine compared to wild-type BChE, we designed an N-terminal fusion protein, Fc(M3)-(PAPAP)2-CocH3, which was constructed by fusing Fc of human IgG1 to the N-terminal of CocH3 and further optimized by inserting a linker between the two protein domains. Without lowering the enzyme activity, Fc(M3)-(PAPAP)2-CocH3 expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells has not only a long biological half-life of 105 ± 7 h in rats, but also a high yield of protein expression. Particularly, Fc(M3)-(PAPAP)2-CocH3 has a ∼21-fold increased protein expression yield in CHO cells compared to CocH3 under the same...
Source: Chemico Biological Interactions - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research