A C-terminal Pfs48/45 malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidate produced in the baculovirus expression system

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.The Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte surface protein, Pfs48/45, is a potential target for malaria transmission-blocking vaccines. However, due to its size and complexity, expression of the full-length protein has been difficult, leading to focus on the C-terminal six cysteine domain (6C) with the use of fusion proteins to facilitate expression and folding. In this study, we utilized the baculovirus system to evaluate the expression of three Pfs48/45 proteins including the full-length protein, the 6C domain fragment and the 6C domain mutant to prevent glycosylation. Expression of the recombinant Pfs48/45 proteins was conducted in super Sf9 cells combined with the use of tunicamycin to prevent N-glycosylation. The proteins were then evaluated as immunogens in mice to demonstrate the induction of functionally active polyclonal antibody responses as measured in the standard membrane feeding assay (SMFA). Only the 6C protein was found to exhibit significant transmission-reducing activity. Further characterization of the biologically active 6C protein demonstrated it was homogeneous in terms of size, charge, conformation, absence of glycosylation, and containing proper disulfide bond pairings. This study presents an alternative expression system, without the need of a fusion protein partner, for the Pfs48/45 6C protein fragment including further evaluation as a potential transmission-blocking vaccine candidate

The Pfs230 N-terminal fragment, Pfs230D1+: expression and characterization of a potential malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidate

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Background Control and elimination of malaria can be accelerated by transmission-blocking interventions such as vaccines. A surface antigen of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes, Pfs230, is a leading vaccine target antigen, and has recently progressed to experimental clinical trials. To support vaccine product development, an N-terminal Pfs230 antigen was designed to increase yield, as well as to improve antigen quality, integrity, and homogeneity. Methods A scalable baculovirus expression system was used to express the Pfs230D1+ construct (aa 552–731), which was subsequently purified and analysed. Pfs230D1+ was designed to avoid glycosylation and protease digestion, thereby potentially increasing homogeneity and stability. The resulting Pfs230D1+ protein was compared to a previous iteration of the Pfs230 N-terminal domain, Pfs230C1 (aa 443–731), through physiochemical characterization and in vivo analysis. The induction of functional antibody responses was confirmed via the standard membrane feeding assay (SMFA). Results Pfs230D1+ was produced and purified to an overall yield of 23 mg/L culture supernatant, a twofold yield increase over Pfs230C1. The Pfs230D1+ protein migrated as a single band via SDS-PAGE and was detected by anti-Pfs230C1 monoclonal antibodies. Evaluation by SDS-PAGE, chromatography (size-exclusion and reversed phase) and capillary isoelectric focusing demonstrated the molecule had improved homogeneity in terms of size, conformation, and charge. Intact mass spectrometry confirmed its molecular weight and that it was free of glycosylation, a key difference to the prior Pfs230C1 protein. The correct formation of the two intramolecular disulfide bonds was initially inferred by binding of a conformation specific monoclonal antibody and directly confirmed by LC/MS and peptide mapping. When injected into mice the Pfs230D1+ protein elicited antibodies that demonstrated transmission-reducing activity, via SMFA, comparable to Pfs230C1. Conclusion By elimination of an O-glycosylation site, a potential N-glycosylation site, and two proteolytic cleavage sites, an improved N-terminal Pfs230 fragment was produced, termed D1+, which is non-glycosylated, homogeneous, and biologically active. An intact protein at higher yield than that previously observed for the Pfs230C1 fragment was achieved. The results indicate that Pfs230D1+ protein produced in the baculovirus expression system is an attractive antigen for transmission-blocking vaccine development

THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF LENS ALDOSE REDUCTASE.

THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF LENS ALDOSE REDUCTASE

Peptide data on the disulfide bond analysis of baculovirus produced Pfs25 by LC-MSMS

This article contains the peptide data obtained while performing disulfide bond mapping of the recombinant Plasmodium falciparum protein, Pfs25, produced from the baculovirus expression system. Pfs25 is a malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidate, with a compact and complex structure including 22 cysteines. This supplementary data is related to the research “Disulfide bond mapping of Pfs25, a recombinant malaria transmission blocking vaccine candidate” (Lee et al., 2018) [1]. In brief, Pfs25 was digested with trypsin/Lys-C and derived peptides separated by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and analyzed by mass spectrometry (MS) by MSE fragmentation. The theoretical peptides and their respective masses along with disulfide bond locations with linked peptides are presented here alongside the mass spectrometry analysis. The raw mass spectrometry data is made available through the Mass Spectrometry Interactive Virtual Environment (MassIVE) with identifier: MSV000081982. Keywords: Pfs25, Disulfide, Mass spectrometry, Malaria, LC-MSM