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SUMO-fusion and autoinduction-based combinatorial approach for enhanced production of bioactive human interleukin-24 in Escherichia coli

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Abstract

High-level production of recombinant human interleukin-24 (IL-24), a multifunctional immunomodulatory cytokine, has been challenging due primarily to its aggregation as inclusion bodies in the bacterial host while persistent poor-expression in the insect/mammalian expression systems. The present study presents a robust, vector-host combination (pE-SUMO-IL24), auto-inducible medium (YNG/M9NG), and a simple purification scheme for soluble, bioactive, and cost-effective production of native-like IL-24 (nIL-24) in Escherichia coli. The final protein yield, following a three-step purification scheme (IMAC, SEC, dialysis), was 98 mg/L in shake-flask culture (with scale-up potential), which was several folds higher than reported earlier. In vitro cytotoxicity assays with HeLa and HCT116 cancer cell lines (performed using different concentrations of nIL-24) and the fluorescence activated cell sorting analysis (FACS) revealed a dose- and concentration-dependent increase in the population of pro-apoptotic cells with concomitant, statistically significant drop in the number of cells existent at Go/G1-, S-, and G2/M-phases (P < 0.002). The bioactive nIL-24, developed through this study, holds promise for use in further functional characterizations/applications.

Key points

• Yeast SUMO fusion partner at N-terminus for improved solubility of an otherwise insoluble IL-24 in E. coli.

• Enhanced cell densities with concomitant several-fold increase in protein yield by lactose-inducible media.

• Improved inhibition of cervical and colorectal carcinomas by native-like nIL-24 compared with Met-containing IL.

• Heterologous nIL-24 may enable better understanding of the functional intricacies linked up with its unique cancer-specific features.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to Prof. Dr. A. R. Shakoori (SBS, PU) and Prof. Dr. Idrees Khan (CEMB, PU) for permission to use their cell culture laboratories and the Research Associate Ms. Saira Aftab (SBS, PU) for her initial help in cell culturing experiments.

Funding

This study was partially supported by research grants from COMSTECH-TWAS (09-035-RG/PHA/AS) and University of the Punjab, Lahore, Principal Investigator of which was Dr. Saima Sadaf.

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Author notes

  1. Sana Tahir and M. Mudassir Iqbal contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biopharmaceuticals and Biomarkers Discovery Lab, Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan

    Sana Tahir, M. Mudassir Iqbal & Saima Sadaf

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan

    M. Waheed Akhtar

  3. Department of Interventional Radiology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Qingbing Wang

  4. Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Ministry of Education), State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Sun

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  1. Sana Tahir
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Contributions

Vectors construction, wet-lab experimentation, software, and first draft preparation (jointly by ST and MI); conceptualization, study design, and research supervision (SS); manuscript review, editing, and data analysis (SS, MWA, TS, QW). All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Saima Sadaf.

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Tahir, S., Iqbal, M.M., Akhtar, M.W. et al. SUMO-fusion and autoinduction-based combinatorial approach for enhanced production of bioactive human interleukin-24 in Escherichia coli. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 9671–9682 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10921-4

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