Active Human and Murine Tumor Necrosis Factor α Cytokines Produced from Silkworm Baculovirus Expression System

The tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) has been employed as a promising reagent in treating autoimmunity and cancer diseases. To meet the substantial requirement of TNFα proteins, we report in this study that mature types of recombinant human and murine TNFα proteins are successfully expressed in the ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Takeru Ebihara, Jian Xu, Yoshino Tonooka, Takumi Nagasato, Kohei Kakino, Akitsu Masuda, Kosuke Minamihata, Noriho Kamiya, Hirokazu Nakatake, Yuuka Chieda, Hiroaki Mon, Tsuguru Fujii, Takahiro Kusakabe, Jae Man Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
Series:Insects
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/6/517
Description
Summary:The tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) has been employed as a promising reagent in treating autoimmunity and cancer diseases. To meet the substantial requirement of TNFα proteins, we report in this study that mature types of recombinant human and murine TNFα proteins are successfully expressed in the baculovirus expression system using silkworm larvae as hosts. The biological activities of purified products were verified in culture murine L929 cells, showing better performance over a commercial <i>Escherichia coli</i>-derived murine TNFα. By comparing the activity of purified TNFα with or without the tag removal, it is also concluded that the overall activity of purified TNFα cytokines could be further improved by the complete removal of C-terminal fusion tags. Collectively, our current attempt demonstrates an alternative platform for supplying high-quality TNFα products with excellent activities for further pharmaceutical and clinical trials.
ISSN:2075-4450