Re Engineering Beta Interferon


Song K, Yoon IS, Kim NA, Kim DH, Lee J, Lee HJ, Lee S, Choi S, Choi MK, Kim HH, Jeong SH, Son WS, Kim DD, Shin YK. Glycoengineering of Interferon-β 1a Improves Its Biophysical and Pharmacokinetic Properties. PLoS One. 2014;9(5):e96967. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096967. eCollection 2014.


The purpose of this study was to develop a biobetter version of recombinant human interferon-β 1a (rhIFN-β 1a) to improve its biophysical properties, such as aggregation, production and stability, and pharmacokinetic properties without jeopardizing its activity. To achieve this, we introduced additional glycosylation into rhIFN-β 1a via site-directed mutagenesis. Glycoengineering of rhIFN-β 1a resulted in a new molecular entity, termed R27T, which was defined as a rhIFN-β mutein with two N-glycosylation sites at 80th (original site) and at an additional 25th amino acid due to a mutation of Thr for Arg at position 27th of rhIFN-β 1a. Glycoengineering had no effect on rhIFN-β ligand-receptor binding, as no loss of specific activity was observed. R27T showed improved stability and had a reduced propensity for aggregation and an increased half-life. Therefore, hyperglycosylated rhIFN-β could be a biobetter version of rhIFN-β 1a with a potential for use as a drug against multiple sclerosis.

You can engineer to alter the way it hangs round in the body..however it needs to be engineered to work better:-)

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