Iontophoresis of a 13 kDa protein monitored by subcutaneous microdialysis in vivo.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to optimize parameters pertaining to microdialysis technique so as to make this method feasible for evaluating transdermal transport of macromolecules. RESULTS: Microdialysis experiments were performed in vivo using hairless rats with daniplestim as the model protein. Two perfusion fluids - phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and 3% dextran in PBS - were evaluated with respect to their effect on sample volume retrieval and recovery of the target protein from the microdialysis probe. Incorporation of dextran-60 in the perfusion fluid reduced fluid loss to 10% as opposed to 34% in the absence of dextran-60. Improvement in daniplestim recovery was also seen with dextran-PBS (56.5 ± 10.3%) as the perfusion fluid than with PBS alone (26.7±4.5%). CONCLUSION: Subcutaneous levels of daniplestim were measured following iontophoresis after improving recovery and minimizing fluid loss from the microdialysis probe.

1H, 13C and 15N resonance assignments of a highly-soluble murine interleukin-3 analogue with wild-type bioactivity.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a cytokine that acts as a critical mediator of inflammation and immune responses to infections. IL-3, like interleukin-5 (IL-5) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), exerts its effects on target cells via receptors composed of cytokine-specific alpha-subunits and a common beta-subunit (betac-subunit, shared with IL-5 and GM-CSF). In contrast to humans, mice also possess an additional beta-receptor, beta(IL-3), that can specifically bind IL-3. Except for a study carried out on an analogue of human IL-3 that contains 14 mutations, structure-related studies of IL-3 have been very limited, largely because of its poor solution behaviour. Here we report (1)H, (13)C, and (15)N chemical shift assignments of murine IL-3 comprising residues 33-156 (SWISS-PROT accession number: P01586), in which the only mutation is an alanine substitution of Cys105. The mIL-3 construct used in the present study was engineered by eliminating residues 27-32 of the N-terminus (the first 26 residues of the primary sequence of mIL-3 are cleaved in vivo during secretion), the C-terminal 10 residues (157-166), and a disulfide bond between Cys105 and Cys166 that is poorly conserved in orthologue sequences. The new construct vastly improves the solubility of murine IL-3 while maintaining its wild-type biological activity.

Transdermal delivery of a approximately 13 kDa protein--an in vivo comparison of physical enhancement methods.

The availability of several enhancement techniques has made it possible to study delivery of macromolecules through skin. This study was conducted to evaluate the transdermal delivery of a ~13 kDa protein using iontophoresis, sonophoresis, and microneedles alone or in combination. In vivo delivery experiments were carried out using hairless rats with daniplestim (DP) as the model protein (molecular weight: 12.760 kDa; isoelectric point, 6.2). Delivery enhancement abilities of the above techniques were evaluated at two different drug concentrations in the patch: 2 mg/mL and 5 mg/mL. At a drug loading concentration of 2 mg/mL maximum delivery was seen with the combination of microneedles and iontophoresis. At 5 mg/mL, sonophoresis alone gave a C(max) of 8.22 +/- 5.9 ng/mL and a combination of sonophoresis and iontophoresis gave a C(max) of 4.9 +/- 1.8 ng/mL. The results of this study suggest that combination of microneedles and iontophoresis was the most effective approach in delivering a 13 kDa protein through the skin.

Molecular charge mediated transport of a 13 kD protein across microporated skin.

Transport of proteins across the skin is highly limited owing to their hydrophilic nature and large molecular size. This study was conducted to assess the skin transport abilities of a model protein across hairless rat skin during iontophoresis alone and in combination with microneedles as a function of molecular charge. The effect of microneedle pretreatment on electroosmotic flow was also investigated. Skin permeation experiments were carried out in vitro using daniplestim (DP) (MW, 12.76 kD; isoelectric point, 6.2) as a model protein molecule. The effect of molecular charge on protein transport was evaluated by performing studies in two different buffers--TRIS (pH 7.5) and acetate (pH 4.0). Iontophoretic transport mechanisms of DP varied with respect to molecular charge on the protein. The combination approach (iontophoresis and microneedles) gave much higher flux values compared to iontophoresis alone at both pH 4.0 and pH 7.5, however, the delivery in this case was also found to be charge dependent. The findings of this study indicate that electroosmosis persisted upon microporation, thus retaining skin's permselective properties. This enables us to explore the combination of microneedles and iontophoresis as a potential approach for delivery of proteins.

In vitro suppression of leukemia by alkylated interleukin-3.

We report the in vitro suppression of the IL-3-dependent MO-7 acute myeloid leukemia proliferation by an interleukin-3 antagonist. The antagonist was generated by alkylation to inactivate catalytic His-residues of native human interleukin-3. The resulting inhibitor caused a factor 7 inhibition of the growth-response curve of the IL-3 control-stimulated proliferation of a MO-7 leukemia cell line. A 40% inhibition of the MO-7 proliferation could be achieved with a partially alkylated inhibitor in presence of a factor 30 excess of native IL-3. Therefore, the inhibitor had a substantially improved affinity for the IL-3 receptor on these leukemia cells. At a concentration of as low as 0.1 ng/ml it still caused a 2-fold inhibition of the native IL-3-stimulated proliferation response curve. Thus it can be concluded that this alkylate IL-3 is a potent IL-3 antagonist. Based on the reported specific zinc binding of IL-2, IL-6, GM-CSF and gamma-interferon this suggests that more leukemias and even other forms of cancer can be effectively suppressed by alkylated growth factors.

Glycosylation does not affect in-vitro biological activity of interleukin-3.

Murine interleukin-3 is secreted by activated T cells in three major molecular mass classes, which differ from one another in the extent of their N-linked glycosylation. Experiments were performed to determine whether carbohydrate content of different IL-3 glycoforms will affect their biological activity. IL-3 produced by activated T cells was biosynthetically labeled with 35S-methionine and the three major IL-3 glycoforms forms, with M(r) values of 22,000, 28,000 and 36,000, were purified using antibody affinity chromatography and preparative SDS-PAGE. Portions of these IL-3 glycoforms were enzymatically deglycosylated with N-glycanase and the bioactivity of each IL-3 glycoform and the corresponding deglycosylated fraction was compared in cell proliferation assays. The amount of 35S-label present in the samples was used as an index of protein amount so that equivalent concentrations of the various IL-3 forms could be compared. Our results indicate that the three major glycoforms have identical specific activity and that removal of N-linked carbohydrate does not change the specific in-vitro activity of IL-3. In addition to the three major glycoforms, small amounts of non-glycosylated IL-3 were also recovered from the affinity purified T-cell derived material. Using again the level of incorporated 35S as reference point, no difference in bioactivity compared with glycosylated IL-3 was detected. There is potential heterogeneity in IL-3 receptor complexes present on the many different cell types responsive to IL-3. We therefore tested whether the three IL-3 glycoforms differed in their interaction with various IL-3 responsive cell lines.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A human interleukin 3 analog with increased biological and binding activities.

Human interleukin 3 (IL-3) variants generated by site-directed mutagenesis were analyzed in multiple biological and binding assays to identify residues critical for IL-3 activity. Two mutants carrying substitutions in the predicted hydrophilic region within the first alpha-helix, [Ala21,Leu22]IL-3 and [Ala21,Leu22,Ala25]IL-3 showed loss of biological activity and high-affinity binding. Mutants in a second predicted hydrophilic region, [Ala44,Leu45,Ala46]IL-3 and [Ala44,Ala46]IL-3, however, showed similar biological and binding activities to wild-type IL-3. Mutations in a C-terminal hydrophilic region that overlaps the fourth predicted alpha-helix led to either loss or gain of function. IL-3 analogs [Glu104,Asp105]-, [Leu108]-, [Asn108]-, [Thr108]-, and [Ala101,Leu108]IL-3 were less active than wild-type IL-3, whereas [Ala101]IL-3 and [Val116]IL-3 were 2- to 3-fold more potent. Significantly, the double mutant [Ala101,Val116]IL-3 exhibited a 15-fold greater potency than native IL-3. Receptor binding studies showed that [Ala101,Val116]IL-3 exhibited increased binding to the high- and low-affinity receptors of monocytes. These results show the generation of an IL-3 analog with increased biological and binding activities and support a model where the C terminus of IL-3 interacts with the alpha chain of the IL-3 receptor, making this region a useful focus for the development of more potent IL-3 agonists or antagonists.