International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol.16, No.5, 9625-9634, 2015
A Fusion Protein of RGD4C and beta-Lactamase Has a Favorable Targeting Effect in Its Use in Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy
Antibody directed enzyme prodrug therapy (ADEPT) utilizing -lactamase is a promising treatment strategy to enhance the therapeutic effect and safety of cytotoxic agents. In this method, a conjugate (antibody--lactamase fusion protein) is employed to precisely activate nontoxic cephalosporin prodrugs at the tumor site. A major obstacle to the clinical translation of this method, however, is the low catalytic activity and high immunogenicity of the wild-type enzymes. To overcome this challenge, we fused a cyclic decapeptide (RGD4C) targeting to the integrin with a -lactamase variant with reduced immunogenicity which retains acceptable catalytic activity for prodrug hydrolysis. Here, we made a further investigation on its targeting effect and pharmacokinetic properties, the results demonstrated that the fusion protein retains a targeting effect on integrin positive cells and has acceptable pharmacokinetic characteristics, which benefits its use in ADEPT.