Aptamers selected against the unglycosylated EGFRvIII ectodomain and delivered intracellularly reduce membrane-bound EGFRvIII and induce apoptosis
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Yingmiao Liu
Abstract
Epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) is a glycoprotein uniquely expressed in glioblastoma, but not in normal brain tissues. To develop targeted therapies for brain tumors, we selected RNA aptamers against the histidine-tagged EGFRvIII ectodomain, using an Escherichia coli system for protein expression and purification. Representative aptamer E21 has a dissociation constant (Kd) of 33×10-9 m, and exhibits high affinity and specificity for EGFRvIII in ELISA and surface plasmon resonance assays. However, selected aptamers cannot bind the same protein expressed from eukaryotic cells because glycosylation, a post-translational modification present only in eukaryotic systems, significantly alters the structure of the target protein. By transfecting EGFRvIII aptamers into cells, we find that membrane-bound, glycosylated EGFRvIII is reduced and the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis is increased. We postulate that transfected aptamers can interact with newly synthesized EGFRvIII, disrupt proper glycosylation, and reduce the amount of mature EGFRvIII reaching the cell surface. Our work establishes the feasibility of disrupting protein post-translational modifications in situ with aptamers. This finding is useful for elucidating the function of proteins of interest with various modifications, as well as dissecting signal transduction pathways.
©2009 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- Minireview
- Functional genetic mouse models: promising tools for investigation of the proteolytic internet
- Protein Structure and Function
- Primary sequence, together with other factors, influence peptide deimination by peptidylarginine deiminase-4
- Mercury and cadmium trigger expression of the copper importer Ctr1B, which enables Drosophila to thrive on heavy metal-loaded food
- Cell Biology and Signaling
- Interferon-γ-mediated pathways and in vitro PBMC proliferation in HIV-infected patients
- Exploring the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma: pathway and bioinformatics analysis of dysregulated genes and proteins
- Aptamers selected against the unglycosylated EGFRvIII ectodomain and delivered intracellularly reduce membrane-bound EGFRvIII and induce apoptosis
- Involvement of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in cellular uptake of high molecular weight kininogen
- Overexpression of Pygopus2 protects HeLa cells from vinblastine-induced apoptosis
- Proteolysis
- Selectivity of propeptide-enzyme interaction in cathepsin L-like cysteine proteases
- Murine and human cathepsin B exhibit similar properties: possible implications for drug discovery
- Novel Techniques
- Isotope tracing enhancement of chemiluminescence assays for nitric oxide research
