Biomedical subjects

G Waschütza

Publications and source records attributed to G Waschütza.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Engineered acid-stabile human interferon gamma.

Loss of anti-viral potency upon pH2-treatment is an inherent feature of interferon (IFN)-gamma. The phenomenon seems to be caused by dissociation of IFN-gamma homodimer into subunits upon acidification and subsequent self-association of monomers into aggregates with reduced activity after neutralization. We demonstrated that acid-stability could be engineered into human IFN-gamma without affecting its specific activity. An artificial intra-monomer disulphide bond E7C/S69C stabilizes the dimeric form of the cytokine, which retained its full bioactivity after exposure to pH2. Acidification did not modify the antigenic structure of IFN-gamma as proved by a panel of mouse anti-human IFNgamma antibodies.

Amino Acid Substitution↗

PubMed1998

Interferon-gamma variants with deletions in the AB surface loop--flexibility is a critical point for receptor binding.

The receptor-binding AB loop of recombinant human interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) has multiple contacts with the extracellular part of the IFN-gamma receptor a chain (IFN-gammaRalpha). We explored the possible length of truncated AB loops and their conformations by molecular modelling. Deletions of two amino acids at the tip of the loop were tolerated in the model without van der Waals collisions of the AB loop with helix F. Based on these modelling results, two deletion mutants were constructed by overlap-extension PCR mutagenesis: des-(A23, D24)-IFN-gamma and des-(N25, G26)-IFN-gamma. Both mutations were tolerated by the folding pattern of recombinant human IFN-gamma, as proved by CD spectroscopy. The stability of both mutants against cosolvent-induced unfolding was equal to that of wild-type IFN-gamma. In contrast to the biophysical similarities of wild-type and mutant IFN-gamma proteins, the biological activities of both mutants dropped significantly. Antiviral activity and human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR induction of des-(N25, G26)-IFN-gamma was 10% that of wild-type activity. des-(A23, D24)-IFN-gamma had only 1% remaining activity. Receptor-binding experiments confirmed that both deletions had a negative influence on the affinity of recombinant human IFN-gamma to its cellular receptor. We conclude from this combined molecular modelling and mutagenesis experiments, that the reduced flexibility of the truncated AB loop abrogates the possibility of the formation of a 3(10) helix in the receptor-bound state as observed in the X-ray structure of the IFN-gammaRalpha-IFN-gamma complex.

Antiviral Agents↗

PubMed1997

Structural immuno-analysis of human and porcine interferon gamma: identification of shared antigenic domain.

We examined the antigenic resemblance between human (h) and porcine (p) interferon (IFN)-gamma by binding (ELISA) and neutralization assays. The murine polyclonal antisera and sets of murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) raised against either IFN were tested in confrontation with recombinant IFNs of either species, and with site-specific mutants of hIFN-gamma. Several of the mAbs raised against pIFN-gamma cross-reacted in ELISA with hIFN-gamma. In contrast, none of the anti-hIFN-gamma mAbs cross-reacted. By employing site-specific mutants of recombinant hIFN-gamma as antigens in ELISA we succeeded in identifying the C-terminal portion 97-111 as the antigenic site in hIFN-gamma recognized by the cross-reactive anti-pIFn-gamma mAbs. None of the mAbs recognizing the common antigenic structure had neutralizing potency, although His111 was determined by others as the residue important for bioactivity of hIFN-gamma. Mutations in the domain 97-111 had no or little influence on homospecific reactivity of anti-hIFN-gamma mAbs, indicating that this domain, while being mouse-immunodominant in the case of pIFn-gamma was poorly immunogenic in the case of hIFN-gamma. The epitopes of three out of five anti-hIFN-gamma mAbs mapped in the N-terminal region 1-23, indicating immunodominance of this region in hIFN-gamma. Another mAb (D9D10), also directed to the N-terminus of hIFN-gamma, apparently recognized a conformational epitope. This antibody lacked ELISA-reactivity with the wild-type hIFN-gamma but strongly bound mutant protein with an engineered disulfide bridge Cys7-Cys69. Surprisingly, D9D10 showed high reactivity also with the wild type hIFN-gamma produced by baculovirus construct coding for the mature protein with signal sequence or with wild type protein possessing residues Cys-Tyr-Cys from the signal sequence.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Engineered disulfide bonds in recombinant human interferon-gamma: the impact of the N-terminal helix A and the AB-loop on protein stability.

Insertion sites for cysteines with optimal stereochemistry for the formation of unstrained disulfide bridges were identified in recombinant human interferon-gamma (rhu-IFN-gamma) by computer modelling. We have engineered two different disulfide cross-linked mutants, containing a pair of symmetry-related disulfide bonds, which stabilize the N-termini of both monomers of the homodimeric protein. Mutations E7C and S69C allow the formation of an intramonomer disulfide bond between helices A and D. In contrast, the A17C and H111C mutations lead to a covalent cross-link between both monomers. The AB-loop is linked to helix F. The fluorescence properties of native and disulfide cross-linked proteins were studied as a function of guanidine hydrochloride concentration. Melting temperatures (Tm) were calculated from the decrease in CD ellipticity at 220 nm. The induction of the antiviral effect was measured using A549 fibroblast cells infected with encephalomyocarditis virus. The ability to induce the expression of the HLA-DR antigen in Colo 205 cells was determined by fluorescence-activated cell scanning analysis. The stability of both mutants was strongly enhanced against temperature- and cosolvent-induced unfolding. The delta Tm of mutant IFN-gamma E7C/S69C was 15 degrees C. All measured biological activities of this mutant were equal to wild type. In the case of the other mutant IFN-gamma A17C/H111C, the delta Tm value was 25 degrees C. This mutation abolishes nearly the entire biological activity (< 1%) with no detectable changes of secondary structure in the CD spectrum. Our results illustrate the importance of the N-terminal helix A and the AB-loop for the unfolding pathway and thermodynamic stability of rhu-IFN-gamma.

Circular Dichroism↗