Goswami Animesh, Goldberg Steven L, Hanson Ronald L, Johnston Robert M, Lyngberg Olav K, Chan Yeung, Lo Ehrlic, Chan Steven H, de Mas Nuria, Ramirez Antonio, Doyle Richard, Ding Wei, Gao Mian, Krystek Stanley R, Wan Changhong, Kim Yeoun Jin, Calambur Deepa, Witmer Mark, Bryson James W
Discovery, R&D, Bristol-Myers Squibb , Route 206 and Province Line Road, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, United States.
Bioconjug Chem. 2016 May 18;27(5):1276-84. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.6b00101. Epub 2016 May 2.
A disulfide-bridged peptide drug development candidate contained two oligopeptide chains with 11 and 12 natural amino acids joined by a disulfide bond at the N-terminal end. An efficient biotechnology based process for the production of the disulfide-bridged peptide was developed. Initially, the two individual oligopeptide chains were prepared separately by designing different fusion proteins and expressing them in recombinant E. coli. Enzymatic or chemical cleavage of the two fusion proteins provided the two individual oligopeptide chains which could be conjugated via disulfide bond by conventional chemical reaction to the disulfide-bridged peptide. A novel heterodimeric system to bring the two oligopeptide chains closer and induce disulfide bond formation was designed by taking advantage of the self-assembly of a leucine zipper system. The heterodimeric approach involved designing fusion proteins with the acidic and basic components of the leucine zipper, additional amino acids to optimize interaction between the individual chains, specific cleavage sites, specific tag to ensure separation, and two individual oligopeptide chains. Computer modeling was used to identify the nature and number of amino acid residue to be inserted between the leucine zipper and oligopeptides for optimum interaction. Cloning and expression in rec E. coli, fermentation, followed by cell disruption resulted in the formation of heterodimeric protein with the interchain disulfide bond. Separation of the desired heterodimeric protein, followed by specific cleavage at methionine by cyanogen bromide provided the disulfide-bridged peptide.
