title: Heterologous expression of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 in different expression systems.
abstract: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) (Lp-PLA(2)) is a key enzyme involved in atherosclerosis, and has been considered as a new target for drug discovery. The major difficulty for high-throughput screening of Lp-PLA(2) inhibitors and for functional studies was their fast and efficient production. Purification of native Lp-PLA(2) from human plasma was complicated and produced a very low yield. We herein examined the feasibility of expressing and purifying recombinant Lp-PLA(2) in different heterologous expression systems. The fusion Lp-PLA(2) was expressed at high levels and exhibited strong enzyme activity in insect cell-baculovirus expression system. The functional enzyme could also be produced in Pichia pastoris. The inclusion of a Kozak sequence increased greatly the expression level of recombinant Lp-PLA(2) in insect cells, but had little effect on the expression of recombinant Lp-PLA(2) in P. pastoris and Escherichia coli. P. pastoris-produced Lp-PLA(2) could be purified rapidly and conveniently through a one-step procedure, while baculovirus-produced Lp-PLA(2) could be efficiently purified through a two-step procedure. This ability to readily produce recombinant Lp-PLA(2) could provide a screening model for Lp-PLA(2) inhibitors and will facilitate further studies on this enzyme.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
authors: Fujun
authors: F
authors: Zhang
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Dong
authors: Maojun
authors: M
authors: Cai
authors: Jingkang
authors: J
authors: Shen
authors: Yiping
authors: Y
authors: Wang