抗α2δ1抗体/NanoLuc融合蛋白的制备及其特性初步验证

Expression, purification and characterization of anti-α2δ1/NanoLuc fusion protein

摘要:

肿瘤干细胞的存在被认为是肿瘤耐药和复发转移的根本原因，因此研发肿瘤干细胞的活体标记示踪技术动态监测该类细胞的存在具有重要的科学价值。实验室前期发现电压门控钙离子通道α2δ1亚基是肝细胞癌干细胞的特异表面标志物，文中研究探讨利用针对α2δ1的单克隆抗体1B50-1的单链可变域与新型荧光素酶NanoLuc形成融合蛋白1B50-1scFv-NanoLuc，在体外验证其对α2δ1阳性肝癌细胞结合的特性和荧光素酶活性。1B50-1scFv和NanoLuc序列通过重叠PCR技术扩增获得1B50-1scFv-NanoLuc的融合片段，并在C端添加Flag标签肽 (命名为1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag)，然后采用常规DNA克隆技术将融合片段克隆到真核表达载体。利用聚乙烯亚胺(Polyethyleneimine，PEI) 将1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag真核表达载体转染至悬浮型人胚肾293细胞 (FreeStyle 293F)。蛋白免疫印记实验证明融合蛋白在FreeStyle 293F细胞培养上清中表达，其分子量约为50 kDa。融合蛋白经ANTI-FLAG? M2亲和层析柱纯化后，经流式细胞仪法测定融合蛋白1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag对高表达α2δ1的Hep-12肝癌细胞具有高亲和活性。进一步，1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag与高表达α2δ1的肝癌细胞结合后显示出强的荧光素酶活性。这些结果表明融合蛋白1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag可用于α2δ1阳性肝癌干细胞的标记并可通过荧光素酶化学发光法进行示踪。

Abstract:

The existence of cancer stem cells is regarded as the major cause for therapeutic resistance and relapse of a variety of cancer types including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the tracing of such a subpopulation in vivo has been challenging. We have previously demonstrated that the isoform 5 of the voltage-gated calcium channel α2δ1 subunit, which can be recognized specifically by a monoclonal antibody 1B50-1, is a bona fide surface marker for HCC stem cells. Here we developed a strategy for optical imaging of α2δ1-positive cells by using a fusion protein containing the single chain variable fragment (scFv) of Mab1B50-1 and the luciferase NanoLuc which was tagged with Flag in the C-terminal. The scFv of Mab1B50-1 was fused to the N-terminal of NanoLucFlag using overlap PCR, and the recombinant fragment, which was named as 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag, was subsequently cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector. The resulting construct was transfected into FreeStyle 293F cells in suspension using PEI reagent. The expression of the fusion protein was identified as a protein with molecular weight about 50 kDa by Western blotting. After purification by ANTI-FLAG? M2 affinity chromatography, 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag was demonstrated to bind to α2δ1 positive cells specifically with a Kd value of (18.62±1.84) nmol/L. Furthermore, a strong luciferase activity of 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag was detected in α2δ1 positive cells following incubation with the fusion protein, indicating that the presence of α2δ1 could be quantified using this fusion protein. Hence, 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag provides a potential tool for optical imaging of α2δ1 positive cancer stem cells both in vitro and in vivo.