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O-Linked Glycosylation Leads to Decreased Thermal Stability of Interferon Alpha 2b as Measured by Two Orthogonal Techniques

Pharmaceutical Research volume 28, pages 1661–1667 (2011)Cite this article

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Thermal stability is considered an indication of protein fold and conformational stability. We investigate the influence of glycosylation on the thermal stability of interferon alpha 2b (IFN α-2b).

Methods

Far ultraviolet light circular dichroism spectroscopy (UV CD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to assess the thermal stability of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines IFN α-2b reference standards as well as an O-linked glycosylated IFN α-2b produced in human embryonic kidney cells.

Results

Assessment of thermal stability of IFN α-2b and glycosylated IFN α-2b by DSC revealed that non-glycosylated interferon (Tm = 65.7 +/− 0.2°C, n = 3) was more thermally stable than the glycosylated variant (Tm = 63.8 C +/− 0.4°C, n = 3). These observations were confirmed with far UV CD (Tm IFN α-2b = 65.3 +/− 0.4°C, Tm glycosylated IFN α-2b = 63.6 +/− 0.2°C, n = 3). Enzymatic deglycosylation of IFN α-2b resulted in improved thermally stability when assessed with far UV CD and DSC.

Conclusion

We demonstrate that O-linked glycosylation decreases the thermal stability of IFN α-2b compared to a non-glycosylated variant of the protein.

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Abbreviations

CD:

circular dichroism

EDQM:

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines

IFN:

interferon

Tm:

melting temperature

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research is supported by the Government of Canada. We thank Louise Larocque for her assistance in performing the potency assays and Dr. John K. Mark for his assistance with HPLC analysis. We also thank Dr. Jeremy Kunkel and Dr. Richard Isbrucker for their critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Vaccine Evaluation Biologics & Genetic Therapies Directorate, Health Canada, 251 Sir Frederick Banting Driveway, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9, Canada

    Michael James Wilson Johnston, Grant Frahm, Xuguang Li & Mary Alice Hefford

  2. National Research Council Canada, Animal Cell Technology Group Bioprocess Sector, Biotechnology Research Institute, 6100 Royalmount Ave., Montreal, Quebec, H4P 2R2, Canada

    Yves Durocher

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8M5, Canada

    Xuguang Li & Mary Alice Hefford

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  1. Michael James Wilson Johnston
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  2. Grant Frahm
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  5. Mary Alice Hefford
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Correspondence to Michael James Wilson Johnston.

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Johnston, M.J.W., Frahm, G., Li, X. et al. O-Linked Glycosylation Leads to Decreased Thermal Stability of Interferon Alpha 2b as Measured by Two Orthogonal Techniques. Pharm Res 28, 1661–1667 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-011-0402-0

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KEY WORDS

  • circular dichroism
  • differential scanning calorimetry
  • glycosylation
  • interferon