Rho Ji Hyun, Lee Jae Hun, Kwon Inchan
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea.
ACS Omega. 2024 May 13;9(21):22990-23000. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c02303. eCollection 2024 May 28.
Therapeutic proteins, pivotal for treating diverse human diseases due to their biocompatibility and high selectivity, often face challenges such as rapid serum clearance, enzymatic degradation, and immune responses. To address these issues and enable prolonged therapeutic efficacy, techniques to extend the serum half-life of therapeutic proteins are crucial. The AlbuCatcher, a conjugate of human serum albumin (HSA) and SpyCatcher, was proposed as a general technique to extend the serum half-life of diverse therapeutic proteins. HSA, the most abundant blood protein, exhibits a long intrinsic half-life through Fc receptor (FcRn)-mediated recycling. The SpyTag/SpyCatcher (ST/SC) system, known for forming irreversible isopeptide bonds, was employed to conjugate HSA and therapeutic proteins. Site-specific HSA conjugation to SC was achieved using an inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reaction, minimizing activity loss. Using urate oxidase (Uox) as a model protein with a short half-life, the small ST was fused to generate Uox-ST. Then, HSA-conjugated Uox (Uox-HSA) was successfully prepared via the Uox-ST/AlbuCatcher reaction. In vitro enzyme assays demonstrated that the impact of ST fusion and HSA conjugation on Uox enzymatic activity is negligible. Pharmacokinetics studies in mice revealed that Uox-HSA exhibits a significantly longer serum half-life (about 18 h) compared to Uox-WT (about 2 h). This extended half-life is attributed to FcRn-mediated recycling of HSA-conjugated Uox, demonstrating the effectiveness of the AlbuCatcher strategy in enhancing the pharmacokinetics of therapeutic proteins.
治疗性蛋白质因其生物相容性和高选择性在治疗多种人类疾病中起着关键作用,但它们常常面临诸如血清清除迅速、酶降解以及免疫反应等挑战。为了解决这些问题并实现延长治疗效果,延长治疗性蛋白质血清半衰期的技术至关重要。AlbuCatcher是一种人血清白蛋白(HSA)与SpyCatcher的缀合物,被提出作为延长多种治疗性蛋白质血清半衰期的通用技术。HSA是血液中最丰富的蛋白质,通过Fc受体(FcRn)介导的再循环表现出较长的固有半衰期。SpyTag/SpyCatcher(ST/SC)系统以形成不可逆的异肽键而闻名,被用于将HSA与治疗性蛋白质缀合。利用逆电子需求狄尔斯-阿尔德(IEDDA)反应实现了HSA与SC的位点特异性缀合,将活性损失降至最低。以半衰期较短的尿酸氧化酶(Uox)作为模型蛋白,将小的ST融合以产生Uox-ST。然后,通过Uox-ST/AlbuCatcher反应成功制备了HSA缀合的Uox(Uox-HSA)。体外酶活性测定表明,ST融合和HSA缀合对Uox酶活性的影响可忽略不计。小鼠体内药代动力学研究表明,与野生型Uox(约2小时)相比,Uox-HSA的血清半衰期显著延长(约18小时)。这种延长的半衰期归因于FcRn介导的HSA缀合Uox的再循环,证明了AlbuCatcher策略在增强治疗性蛋白质药代动力学方面的有效性。