Xia Xiao-Xia, Shen Ya-Ling, Wei Dong-Zhi
State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai). 2004 Feb;36(2):118-22. doi: 10.1093/abbs/36.2.118.
As a potential anti-tumor protein, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has drawn considerable attention. This report presented the purification and characterization of soluble TRAIL, expressed as inclusion bodies in E. coli. sTRAIL inclusion bodies were solubilized and refolded at a high concentration up to 0.9 g/L by a simple dilution method. Refolded protein was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by a single-step immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The purified sTRAIL had a strong cytotoxic activity against human pancreatic tumor cell line 1990, with ED50 about 1.5 mg/L. Circular dichroism and fluorescence spectrum analysis showed that the refolded sTRAIL had a structure similar to that of native protein with beta-sheet secondary structure. This efficient procedure of sTRAIL renaturation may be useful for the mass production of this therapeutically important protein.
