ABSTRACT
Erythropoietin Fc (EPO-Fc) fusion proteins are potential drug candidates that have been designed for the treatment of anemia in humans by stimulating erythrocyte production. Such compounds can be considered performance-enhancing agents that may be used by athletes in endurance sports. This study describes the primary structure of commercially available EPO-Fc based on comprehensive liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. A bottom-up approach and the intact molecular weight (MW) measurement of deglycosylated protein and its IdeS proteolytic fractions was used to determine the amino acid sequence of EPO-Fc. Using multiple proteases, peptides covering unknown fusion breakpoints (spacer peptides) were identified. We demonstrated that "spacer peptides" can be used in the determination of EPO-Fc fusion proteins in biological samples using common LC-tandem MS methods.
Subject(s)
Erythropoietin/genetics , Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments/genetics , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/analysis , Amino Acid Sequence , Chromatography, Liquid , Erythropoiesis/drug effects , Humans , Peptide Hydrolases/metabolism , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics , Tandem Mass SpectrometryABSTRACT
Radiolabelling and biotinylation of cell proteins followed by immunoprecipitation is a common procedure for biochemical characterization of cell-surface antigens recognized by monoclonal antibodies. Here we present a new method of cell labelling with fluorescent dyes followed by immunoprecipitation and SDS-PAGE with subsequent detection of specific bands by fluorescence imaging devices. Fluorescent immunoprecipitation analysis (FIPA) of cell surface proteins is a fast and sensitive alternative to conventional immunoprecipitation methods, eliminating the need to employ radioactive or biotin labels. The proposed method is compatible with mass spectrometry analysis and permits the identification of immunoprecipitated proteins.
