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Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Proteins Synthesized in Escherichia coli Cells: Effects of Additional Domains on the in vitro and in vivo Activities


A. S. Karyagina1,2,3,a*, T. M. Grunina1, A. M. Lyaschuk1, E. V. Voronina4, R. A. Marigin4, S. A. Cherepushkin4, I. N. Trusova4, A. V. Grishin1,2, M. S. Poponova1, P. A. Orlova1, V. N. Manskikh1,3, N. V. Strukova1, M. S. Generalova1, K. E. Nikitin1, L. A. Soboleva1, I. S. Boksha1,5, and A. V. Gromov1,b*

1Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia

2All-Russia Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, 127550 Moscow, Russia

3Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Russia

4State Research Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms, Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, 117545 Moscow, Russia

5Research Center of Mental Health, 115522 Moscow, Russia

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received July 10, 2018; Revised September 14, 2018; Accepted September 14, 2018
The aim of this work was to compare biological activities of three variants of bacterially expressed human recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) with additional protein domains: 6His-s-tag-EPO protein carrying the s-tag (15-a.a. oligopeptide from bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A) at the N-terminus and HBD-EPO and EPO-HBD proteins containing heparin-binding protein domains (HBD) of the bone morphogenetic protein 2 from Danio rerio at the N- and C-termini, respectively. The commercial preparation Epostim (LLC Pharmapark, Russia) produced by synthesis in Chinese hamster ovary cells was used for comparison. The EPO variant with the C-terminal HBD domain connected by a rigid linker (EPO-HBD) possesses the best properties as compared to HBD-EPO with the reverse domain arrangement. It was ~13 times more active in vitro (i.e., promoted proliferation of human erythroleukemia TF-1 cells) and demonstrated a higher rate of association with the erythropoietin receptor. EPO-HBD also exhibited the greatest binding to the demineralized bone matrix (DBM) and more prolonged release from the DBM among the four proteins studied. Subcutaneous administration of EPO-HBD immobilized on DBM resulted in significantly more pronounced vascularization of surrounding tissues in comparison with the other proteins and DBM alone. Therefore, EPO-HBD displayed better performance with regard to all the investigated parameters than other examined EPO variants, and it seems promising to study the possibility of its medical use.
KEY WORDS: erythropoietin, heparin-binding domain, proliferation of human erythroleukemia TF-1 cells, vascularization of surrounding tissues

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297919010036