JP2007126391A - Refolding agent of protein - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refolding agent capable of producing a high quality protein with good productivity, and a refolding method. <P>SOLUTION: This refolding agent comprises a compound (A) having at least a group selected from the group consisting of a carboxy group, a carboxylate anion group, and an ester group, and this refolding method comprises a process in which an unfolded protein is treated with the refolding agent, and as the compound (A), a carboxylic acid and its salt can be mentioned. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a protein refolding agent and a refolding method, and more particularly to a refolding agent and a refolding method used to unwind an unfolded protein into an active protein structure.

  Elucidation and analysis of protein functions and structures are extremely important, for example, directly related to disease treatment and drug discovery. For this reason, various proteins are synthesized and produced by various methods, their structures are examined, and action mechanisms and roles in the living body are elucidated. Now, it is well known that the functions of proteins are determined not only by the sequence and chain length of the amino acids constituting them, but also by the ordered three-dimensional structure (higher order structure) taken by them.

Industrially, with the development of genetic engineering, various proteins have been prepared in large quantities as recombinants and used in a wide variety of industries such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, food processing, and clinical diagnosis. With the development of vector technology, technology that produces a large amount of target protein in Escherichia coli and yeast cells can be easily and reproducibly executed with few resources.
However, many of the proteins expressed in recombinants are unordered in their three-dimensional structure, their higher-order structures are not controlled, and often form small particle granules called inclusive inclusion bodies (inclusion bodies). . For this reason, in the production process by E. coli, the inclusion body is unwound (unfolded), the higher-order structure is prepared, and the protein is converted into a soluble protein with an ordered three-dimensional structure, that is, the inclusion body is unfolded and then refolded. It is necessary to (rewind).

  This type of refolding is an extremely important technique that can be applied not only to proteins produced by E. coli and yeast, but also to the regeneration of proteins inactivated due to certain causes such as thermal history. Therefore, this refolding has been extensively studied and various methods have been proposed, but most of them have a low refolding rate and a certain limited protein (especially a specific protein having a low molecular weight). In many cases, this refolding is general, universal, and has a high refolding rate applicable to various proteins. It is not an efficient and economical method.

The refolding operation that has been used for a long time is the dialysis method and the dilution method. In the dialysis method, a protein denaturing agent (an unfolding agent such as guanidine hydrochloride and / or urea) added in advance by dialysis is gradually diluted and replaced with a buffer solution to obtain a functional protein three-dimensional structure. It is a method of refolding. As an application example of this method, a stepwise dilution method is known in which the yield of refolding to a functional protein tertiary structure is increased by further slowly decreasing the protein denaturant concentration (for example, non-patented). Reference 1).
However, the dialysis method is not practical in industry because the external solution usually requires a volume of 100 times or more of the protein solution and requires several days of time.

  The dilution method is widely used because it ends in a relatively short time and requires a relatively small volume compared to the dialysis method. In the dilution method, an unfolded protein solution to which a protein denaturant (unfolding agent) is added is excessively diluted with a buffer solution to refold the protein from an unfolded state to a functional protein structure. It is a method to do. The dilution method is the simplest and low-cost method for refolding a protein into a functional three-dimensional structure, but the yield of refolding is poor (for example, Non-Patent Document 2), and the yield is low due to large dilution. is the current situation.

  The use of an adsorption separation column for refolding has also been tried. When protein or thioredoxin unfolded with urea / guanidine hydrochloride is subjected to gel filtration, the refolding occurs during gel filtration (Non-patent Document 3). However, refolding is not always sufficient with this method, and other proteins usually do not give satisfactory results. When a protein that has been solubilized with 8M urea is adsorbed on a column that is fixed with a molecular chaperone GroEL, which is a kind of protein that promotes refolding of a protein with a broken structure, and eluted with a solution containing 2M each of potassium chloride and urea, It has also been reported that refolding of the eluted protein occurs (Non-patent Document 4). However, these are only recognized with very limited proteins such as Cyclophilin A. In particular, when a molecular chaperone is used, since it is a certain type of template, the fact that it does not conform to the shape of the template is completely useless.

  In some cases, a metal chelate is used instead of a protein that promotes refolding as a fixed substance on the column. When a His6-tag fusion protein unfolded in an aqueous solution containing guanidine hydrochloride and urea is adsorbed on a resin to which a nickel chelate has been immobilized and washed with a buffer solution containing no unfolding agent, refolding of the fusion protein occurs (non-folding) Patent Document 5). The application of this method is limited to this protein, and the resin preparation is complicated and expensive.

When β-cyclodextrin or cycloamylose is used as an artificial chaperone and a protein unfolded with a surfactant is mixed into this chaperone solution, the surfactant is taken up by the artificial chaperone, and the protein is refolded in this process. There are also reports (Non-Patent Documents 6 to 8). However, this method is only successful with carbonic anhydrase B and the like. Moreover, it is not a method that can be repeated, but is expensive.
J Biol Chem. 2003 Mar 14; 278 (11): 8979-8987. J Immunol Methods. 1998 Oct 1; 219 (1-2): 119-129. Biochemistry, Vol. 26 (1987) 3135-3141 Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 94 (1997) 3576-3578 Life Science News (Japan Ed.) Vol. 3 (2001) 6-7 J. et al. Am. Chem. Soc. Vol. 117 (1995) 2373-2374 J. et al. Biol. Chem. Vol. 271 (1996) 3478-3487 FEBS Lett. Vol. 486 (2000) 131-135

  As described above, various refolding methods have been proposed, but when refolding an unfolded protein, there were still problems such as a decrease in yield and low purity due to large dilution of the protein. .

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have reached the present invention.
That is, the present invention is an unfolded protein refolding agent comprising a compound (A) having one or more groups selected from the group consisting of a carboxyl group, a carboxylate anion group and an ester group; A refolding method comprising a step of treating a protein unfolded with the refolding agent, wherein the concentration of (A) in the system is 0.01 to 6 mol / L; refolding with the method And a protein obtained by the production method.

  Since the refolding method using the refolding agent of the present invention does not dilute the protein greatly, the productivity is dramatically improved as compared with the conventional method. Moreover, since the refolding effect is higher than before, a high-purity protein can be obtained in large quantities.

The refolding agent of the present invention is a refolding agent for unfolded protein, and is a compound (A) (in the following, having one or more groups selected from the group consisting of a carboxyl group, a carboxylate anion group and an ester group) , Which may be simply expressed as (A)).
In the present invention, an ester group means an ester group in a carboxylic acid ester.

All the compounds (A) are characterized by having a group having a structure of —COO. (A) is a compound (A1) having at least one carboxyl group (—COOH) or one carboxylate anion group (—COO ⁻ ) in the molecule (hereinafter simply referred to as (A1)). And a compound (A2) having at least one ester group (—COO—) in the molecule (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as (A2)).

Examples of (A1) include carboxylic acids, ether carboxylic acids, and salts thereof.

  Examples of the carboxylic acid in (A1) include aliphatic carboxylic acids and aromatic carboxylic acids having 1 to 36 carbon atoms (including carbon atoms of the carbonyl group, the same applies hereinafter).

Among aliphatic carboxylic acids among carboxylic acids,
C1-C36 aliphatic saturated monocarboxylic acid (formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, valeric acid, caproic acid, enanthic acid, caprylic acid, verargonic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, stearic acid, behen Acid, 2-ethylhexanoic acid, etc.); C3-36 aliphatic unsaturated monocarboxylic acid (acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, oleic acid, etc.); C3-C36 aliphatic oxymonocarboxylic acid (glycolic acid) , Lactic acid, tartaric acid, gluconic acid, etc.); C2-C36 aliphatic saturated dicarboxylic acid (oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, pimelic acid, suberic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, etc.) And monoalkyl esters thereof; aliphatic unsaturated dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 36 carbon atoms (maleic acid, fumaric acid, itaconic acid, etc.); In addition, trivalent or higher (preferably 3 to 12) aliphatic polyvalent carboxylic acids (citric acid, butanetetracarboxylic acid, cyclopentanetetracarboxylic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, etc.);

Among aromatic carboxylic acids among carboxylic acids:
C7-36 aromatic monocarboxylic acids (benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, hydroxybenzoic acid, etc.); C8-36 aromatic dicarboxylic acids (phthalic acid, isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid, etc.); C9- 36 aromatic tricarboxylic acids and tetracarboxylic acids (trimellitic acid, pyromellitic acid, etc.).

  As other carboxylic acids, polymers having the above aliphatic unsaturated mono- or dicarboxylic acids as essential constituent monomers (for example, polyacrylic acid, polymaleic acid, acrylic acid / acrylic acid alkyl ester copolymers, etc .: several Average molecular weight 500 to 50,000).

  As the carboxylic acid, a partial alkyl of the above dicarboxylic acid or a trivalent or higher polyvalent carboxylic acid (alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms) ester: for example, monomethyl oxalate, monomethyl succinate, maleic acid Examples include monomethyl, monoethyl oxalate, monomethyl citrate, dimethyl citrate and the like.

Examples of the ether carboxylic acid in (A1) include compounds represented by the general formula (2).
^{R 1 -O- (R 2 O)} p-R 3 COOH (2)
In the formula, R ¹ represents a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 36 carbon atoms, R ² represents an alkylene group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms, R ³ represents an alkylene group having 1 to ³ carbon atoms, and p represents an integer of 1 to 50.
R ¹ includes methyl group, ethyl group, n-propyl group, 2-propyl group, n-butyl group, 2-butyl group, t-butyl group, pentyl group, n-hexyl group, cyclohexyl group, octyl group, Nonyl group, decyl group, etc. are mentioned.
Examples of R ² include an ethylene group, a 1,2-propylene group, a 1,3-propylene group, a 1,2-butylene group, and a 1,4-butylene group.
Examples of R ³ include a methyl group, an ethyl group, an n-propyl group, and a 2-propyl group.
p is preferably 1 to 20, more preferably 1 to 10, and particularly preferably 1 to 4.

  Specific examples of the ether carboxylic acid include polyoxyethylene hexyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxyethylene octyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxyethylene nonyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxyethylene decyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxyethylene decyl hydroxy ether carboxylic acid, Polyoxyethylene dodecyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxypropylene hexyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxypropylene octyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxypropylene nonyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxypropylene decyl ether carboxylic acid, polyoxypropylene dodecyl ether carboxylic acid, etc. It is done.

Among the compounds (A1), examples of the compound having a carboxylate anion group include salts of the above carboxylic acids or ether carboxylic acids.
Salts include alkali metal salts (sodium salt, potassium salt, lithium salt, etc.), alkaline earth metal salts (calcium salt, magnesium salt, barium salt, etc.), ammonium salt, amine salt (primary amine salt, secondary amine salt). Tertiary amine salts), and quaternary ammonium salts (such as tetraalkylammonium salts).

  Specific examples of the carboxylate include the above aliphatic saturated monocarboxylate having 1 to 36 carbon atoms (sodium formate, sodium acetate, sodium propionate, sodium butyrate, sodium caproate, etc.); Aliphatic unsaturated monocarboxylic acid (such as sodium acrylate); C3-C36 aliphatic oxymonocarboxylate (sodium glycolate, sodium lactate, sodium tartrate, sodium gluconate, etc.); C2-C36 Aliphatic saturated dicarboxylates (sodium oxalate, sodium succinate, sodium glutarate, etc.); aliphatic unsaturated dicarboxylates having 4 to 36 carbon atoms (eg, sodium maleate); Salts of partial alkyl esters of polycarboxylic acids (monomethyl sodium oxalate Arm, monomethyl sodium succinate, monomethyl potassium maleate, oxalate monoethyl sodium citrate monomethyl sodium, citric acid dimethyl sodium); and the like.

  Examples of ether carboxylates include sodium polyoxyethylene hexyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxyethylene octyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxyethylene nonyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxyethylene decyl ether carboxylate, polyoxyethylene decyl hydroxy ether carboxyl Acid sodium, sodium polyoxyethylene dodecyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxypropylene hexyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxypropylene octyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxypropylene nonyl ether carboxylate, sodium polyoxypropylene decyl ether carboxylate, polyoxy And sodium propylene dodecyl ether carboxylate That.

Examples of the compound (A2) having at least one ester group (—COO—) in the molecule include carboxylic acid alkyl esters and carboxylic acid alkylene oxide adducts.
Examples of the carboxylic acid constituting the carboxylic acid alkyl ester include the carboxylic acid (A1).

Specific examples of carboxylic acid alkyl esters include:
Aliphatic monocarboxylic acid alkyl ester having an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms (as alkyl group, methyl group, ethyl group, n-propyl group, 2-propyl group, n-butyl group, 2-butyl group, t- Carboxylic acid ester having butyl group, pentyl group, n-hexyl group, cyclohexyl group, octyl group, nonyl group or decyl group: for example, methyl formate, methyl acetate, ethyl formate, ethyl acetate, n-butyl acetate, stearic acid Methyl and n-butyl stearate); aliphatic dicarboxylic acid dialkyl ester having an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms (having the above alkyl group as alkyl: for example, dimethyl oxalate, dimethyl succinate, dimethyl maleate, Such as diethyl oxalate, diethyl succinate and dimethyl adipate) In addition, all carboxyl groups of trivalent or higher aliphatic polyvalent carboxylic acids having an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms are esterified (having the above alkyl group as alkyl: for example, trimethyl citrate and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetramethyl and the like).

Examples of the alkylene oxide adduct of carboxylic acid include adducts of 1 to 50 mol of alkylene oxide having 2 to 4 carbon atoms with the carboxylic acid mentioned in (A1) above.
Examples of the alkylene oxide include ethylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as EO), propylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as PO), and butylene oxide.

  Specific examples of alkylene oxide adducts of carboxylic acids include: EO adducts of monocarboxylic acids (formic acid EO 1-10 mol adduct, acetic acid EO 1-10 mol adduct, propionic acid EO 10 mol adduct, butyric acid EO 1-10 mol addition Products, caproic acid EO 2-20 mol adduct, lauric acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, etc.); oxycarboxylic acid EO adduct (glycolic acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, lactic acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, tartaric acid PO1- EO adducts of aliphatic polycarboxylic acids (oxalic acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, malonic acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, succinic acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, glutaric acid EO1-20 Mole adduct, citric acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, maleic acid EO 1-20 mol adduct, etc.); aromatic carboxylic acid EO adduct EO1~30 mol adduct of phthalic acid, terephthalic acid EO1~30 mol adduct); and the like.

  Among (A), from the viewpoint of the refolding effect, (A1) is preferable, and more preferable are aliphatic carboxylic acids, particularly those having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, such as formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and salts thereof. It is.

The unfolded protein in the present invention may be a protein unfolded by any method, but from the viewpoint of the refolding effect, a protein unfolded with guanidine hydrochloride and / or urea is preferable. It is a protein unfolded in guanidine hydrochloride and / or urea aqueous solution at a concentration of 5 mol / L or more.
When the protein contains an S—S bond in the molecule, it is unfolded by adding 2-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, cystine or thiophenol in addition to guanidine hydrochloride and / or urea. It may be a protein.

The refolding method of the present invention is a method for refolding an unfolded protein, comprising the step of treating the protein with the above-mentioned refolding agent, wherein the concentration of the compound (A) in the system in the step is 0. This is a refolding method of 01 to 6 mol / L.
When the concentration of (A) in the system is 0.01 mol / L or more, preferably 0.02 mol / L or more, more preferably 0.1 mol / L or more, the structure of the unfolded protein can be obtained. The action of returning to the normal structure can be effectively expressed. When the concentration of (A) is less than 0.01 mol / L, the refolding effect (ratio at which the unfolded protein can be refolded) is poor.
(A) in the present invention is an equilibrium for easily forming a specific hydrogen bond between the group represented by the general formula (1) and a protein when the concentration in the system is 0.01 mol / L. Estimated to reach concentration.
In addition, when the concentration of (A) in the system exceeds 6 mol / L, the viscosity of the system tends to increase, which is preferable from the viewpoint of ease of protein separation and purification in the subsequent protein production process. Absent.
In the present invention, the “step of treating the protein with a refolding agent” is a step of stirring and mixing the protein and the refolding agent to such an extent that a heterogeneous portion is eliminated. In order to proceed to the above, it is also included to stand for a certain period of time if necessary. The standing time is, for example, 1 to 50 hours.

  In the refolding method of the present invention, in the step of treating with a refolding agent, at least one selected from a surfactant, a pH adjuster and an enzyme stabilizer may be added.

Examples of the surfactant include the following nonionic surfactants, cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and amphoteric surfactants. The addition of a surfactant is preferred from the viewpoint of suppressing protein aggregation.
Nonionic surfactants include higher alcohol alkylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as AO) adducts (higher alcohols having 8 to 24 carbon atoms (decyl alcohol, dodecyl alcohol, coconut oil alkyl alcohol, octadecyl alcohol, oleyl alcohol, etc.)). Ethylene oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as EO) of 1 to 20 mol, etc.], alkylphenol AO adduct having 6 to 24 carbon alkyl, polypropylene glycol EO adduct and polyethylene glycol PO adduct, pluronic type surface activity Agents, polyhydric alcohol type nonionic surfactants and the like.
Examples of the cationic surfactant include a quaternary ammonium salt type cationic surfactant and an amine salt type cationic cationic surfactant.
Examples of the anionic surfactant include sulfate ester or ether sulfate ester having a hydrocarbon group having 8 to 24 carbon atoms and salts thereof, sulfonate, sulfosuccinate and the like.
Examples of amphoteric surfactants include betaine-type amphoteric surfactants and amino acid-type amphoteric surfactants.
Examples of the surfactant include surfactants described in JP-B-57-39678, in addition to the above.

pH adjusters include Tris (N-tris (hydroxymethyl) methylaminoethanesulfonic acid), HEPES (N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N′-2-ethanesulfonic acid), and phosphate buffer (eg, And 1 sodium hydrogen phosphate + hydrochloric acid aqueous solution or 1 sodium dihydrogen phosphate + sodium hydroxide aqueous solution).
Examples of enzyme stabilizers include reducing agents, polyols, metal ions, chelating reagents and the like.
Examples of the reducing agent include 2-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione and cysteine.
Examples of polyols include glycerin, glucose, sucrose, ethylene glycol, sorbitol and mannitol.
Examples of the metal ion include divalent metal ions such as magnesium ion, manganese ion and calcium ion.
Examples of the chelating reagent include ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and glycol etherdiamine-N, N, N ′, N′-4 acetic acid (EGTA).

The addition amount of the surfactant is usually 20% or less with respect to the addition amount of (A), preferably 0.001 to 20%, more preferably 0.01 to 5% from the viewpoint of the refolding effect.
The addition amount of the pH adjuster is usually 100% or less with respect to the addition amount of (A), preferably 0.01 to 100%, more preferably 0.1 to 30% by weight from the viewpoint of the refolding effect.
The addition amount of the enzyme stabilizer is usually 10% or less with respect to the addition amount of (A), preferably 0.001 to 10%, more preferably 0.01 to 1% from the viewpoint of the refolding effect. In addition, when a chelating reagent is carboxylic acid, the usage-amount is totaled with the usage-amount of the compound (A) of this invention.

In the refolding method of the present invention, the protein concentration in the system is preferably 0.01 to 30 mg / mL, more preferably 0.02 to 20 mg / mL, and particularly preferably 0.1 to 20 mg / mL. If it is 0.01 mg / mL or more, it is preferable from the viewpoint of protein production efficiency, and if it is 30 mg / mL or less, the viscosity in the system is rarely excessively high, and thus production efficiency does not decrease.
Moreover, the addition amount (weight) of (A) with respect to the weight of the protein is preferably 10 to 3,000 parts with respect to 100 parts of the protein, and more preferably 30 to 2,000 parts from the viewpoint of the refolding effect. .

The protein production method of the present invention is a protein production method including the step of refolding by the above refolding method.
Since the protein obtained by the protein production method of the present invention is obtained by the above refolding method, it has a higher purity than the conventional method, and it is not necessary to carry out a large dilution, so that a high yield can be obtained.
Examples of the protein production method of the present invention include a production method according to the following sequence of steps.
(1) Protein culturing step: Enzyme or recombinant protein is cultured in a protein producer such as E. coli.
(2) Lysis process: The inclusion body in the protein producing body is removed by using a lysing agent or the like.
(3) Unfolding step: 0.5 mol / L or more unfolding agent and 20 mmol / L or less reducing agent are added to an inclusion body suspension (for example, 10 mg protein / mL), and the mixture is gently stirred and left at room temperature for several hours. .
(4) Refolding step: Add (A) to the unfolded protein suspension to a concentration of 0.2 to 6 mol / L, stir lightly, and leave at room temperature overnight to perform refolding. .
(5) Separation / removal step: The target normal protein is separated from the suspension by column chromatography or the like.

Examples of the protein producer in the protein culturing step (1) include the following bacterial cells, Escherichia and Bacillus.
Bacterial cells include streptococci, staphylococci, escherichia, streptomyces and bacillus cells, fungal cells such as yeast cells and aspergillus Aspergillus cells, insect cells: eg Drosophila S2, Spodoptera Sf9 (Spodoptera Sf9) cells, animal cells: eg CHO, COS, Hela, C127, 3T3, BHK, 293 and Bowes melanoma cells A plant cell etc. are mentioned.
As Escherichia (Escherichia), Escherichia coli (E. coli) K12DH1 [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 160 (1968)], JM103 (see Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 9, 309 (1981)), JA221 (Journal of Molecular Biology). ) 120, 517 (1978)], HB101 [Journal of Molecular Biology, 41, 459 (196) See year)], C600 [Genetics (Genetics) 39 vol, see 440 pp (1954)], MM294 [Nature (Nature) 217 Vol see 1110 pages to (1968)] and the like.
Examples of Bacillus include Bacillus subtilis MI114 (see Gene, 24, 255 (1983)), 207-21 (Journal of Biochemistry 95, 87). Page (1984)].

As a recombinant protein culturing method, an expression vector containing cDNA encoding the target protein is:
(I) A messenger RNA (mRNA) is isolated from the target protein-producing cell, a single-stranded cDNA and then a double-stranded DNA are synthesized from the mRNA, and the complementary DNA is incorporated into a phage or a plasmid.
(Ii) A host is transformed with the obtained recombinant phage or plasmid, and after culture, contains the target DNA by hybridization with a DNA probe encoding a part of the target protein or by immunoassay using an antibody. Isolate phage or plasmid.
(Iii) It can be produced by cutting out the desired cloned DNA from the recombinant DNA and ligating the cloned DNA or a part thereof downstream of the promoter in the expression vector.
Thereafter, the host is transformed with the expression vector and cultured by an appropriate method. Culture is usually performed at 15 to 43 ° C. for 3 to 24 hours, and aeration and agitation can be added as necessary.

  As the lysis method in the lysis process, any of physical disruption by ultrasound, treatment with a lytic enzyme such as lysozyme, treatment with a lysis agent such as a surfactant, etc. can be used. The treatment with a lysis agent described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-119133 is particularly preferred from the viewpoint of not denatured useful proteins.

Examples of the unfolding agent used in the unfolding step include guanidine hydrochloride, urea and a combination thereof.
In addition, when the protein is a protein containing an S—S bond in the molecule, 2-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, cystine, thiophenol or the like is further added as a reducing agent in addition to guanidine hydrochloride and / or urea. May be.

  Examples of the packing material used for column chromatography in the protein separation / removal process include silica, dextran, agarose, cellulose, acrylamide, vinyl polymer, etc., and commercially available products such as Sephadex series, Sephacryl series, Sepharose series (above, Pharmacia series). And Bio-Gel series (Bio-Rad) are available.

The protein of the present invention is a protein obtained by the above protein production method.
Examples of the protein obtained by the protein production method of the present invention include enzymes, recombinant proteins, and nucleic acids.

Examples of the enzyme (P1) include a hydrolase, an isomerase, an oxidoreductase, a transferase, a synthetic enzyme, and a desorbing enzyme.
Examples of hydrolases include protease, serine protease, amylase, lipase, cellulase, glucoamylase and the like. An example of the isomerase is glucose isomerase. Examples of the oxidoreductase include peroxidase. Examples of the transferase include acyltransferase and sulfotransferase. Synthetic enzymes include fatty acid synthase, phosphate synthase, citrate synthase and the like. Examples of the desorption enzyme include pectin lyase.

Examples of the recombinant protein include protein preparations and vaccines.
Examples of protein preparations include interferon α, interferon β, interleukins 1 to 12, growth hormone, erythropoietin, insulin, granular colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), natriuretic peptide, Blood coagulation factor VIII, somatomedin, glucagon, growth hormone releasing factor, serum albumin,
Examples include calcitonin.
Examples of the vaccine include hepatitis A vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, and hepatitis C vaccine.

  Nucleic acids include deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).

<Example>
The following examples further illustrate the invention, but the invention is not limited thereto. Refolding was carried out by the methods of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 below to obtain proteins. The enzyme activity of the obtained protein was measured.

Example 1
In a 10 ml sterilized test tube, 10 mg of lipase (“Lilipase” manufactured by Nagase ChemteX Corporation: the same shall be used hereinafter) and 6 mol / L guanidine hydrochloride (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd .: hereinafter, the same shall be used) ) 1 ml of an aqueous solution was added and left at room temperature overnight to unfold the lipase. To this unfolded protein solution, 5 ml of 1.2 mol / L formate (sodium formate, manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd., hereinafter the same) was added (concentration of compound (A) in the system = 1. 0 mol / L) and left at room temperature overnight to perform refolding. (Concentration of protein in refolding process in the system = 1.7 mg / mL)

Example 2
Refolding was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 1.2 mol / L sodium acetate (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries) was added instead of 1.2 mol / L formate. (Concentration of protein in refolding process in the system = 1.7 mg / mL)

Example 3
Refolding was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 1.2 mol / L propionic acid sodium salt (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries) was added instead of 1.2 mol / L formate. (Concentration of protein in refolding process in the system = 1.7 mg / mL)

Example 4
Refolding was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 1.2 mol / L sodium citrate salt (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) was added instead of 1.2 mol / L formate. (Concentration of protein in refolding process in the system = 1.7 mg / mL)

Example 5
Refolding was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 1.2 mol / L succinic acid monomethyl ester sodium salt (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries) was added instead of 1.2 mol / L formate. (Concentration of protein in refolding process in the system = 1.7 mg / mL)

Example 6
1.2 mol / L ether carboxylic acid instead of 1.2 mol / L formate (polyoxyethylene (EO: about 4.5 mol) sodium dodecyl ether carboxylate (manufactured by Sanyo Chemical Industries: Burelite LCA-Na)) Refolding was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that (Concentration of protein in refolding process in the system = 1.7 mg / mL)

Comparative Example 1
[Refolding by dilution method-1]
To a 10 ml sterilized test tube, 10 ml of lipase “lipase” and 1 ml of 6 mol / L guanidine hydrochloride aqueous solution were added, and left overnight at room temperature to fully unfold the lipase. In a 210 ml sterilized bottle, 1 ml of the above enzyme solution and 200 ml of 0.1 mol / L Tris buffer (pH = 7) were stirred gently and left at room temperature overnight.
(Refolding step protein concentration = 0.05 mg / mL)

Comparative Example 2
[Refolding by dilution method-2]
To a 10 ml sterilized test tube, 10 ml of lipase “lipase” and 1 ml of 6 mol / L guanidine hydrochloride aqueous solution were added, and left overnight at room temperature to fully unfold the lipase. Add 1 ml of the above enzyme solution and 70 ml of 0.05% cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) (manufactured by Tokyo Kasei) to a 140 ml sterile bottle and leave it at room temperature for 1 hour. 2% cycloamylose (manufactured by Ezaki Glico) 30 ml of the solution was added and left overnight. (Refolding step protein concentration = 0.10 mg / mL)

Comparative Example 3
[Refolding by dialysis]
To a 10 ml sterilized test tube, 10 ml of lipase “lipase” and 1 ml of 6 mol / L guanidine hydrochloride aqueous solution were added, and left overnight at room temperature to fully unfold the lipase. 1 ml of the above enzyme solution was put into a dialysis machine, 0.1 mol / L Tris buffer (pH = 7) was gradually added, and diluted gradually to perform refolding. The procedure was terminated when 200 ml of Tris buffer was added.
(Refolding step protein concentration = 0.05 mg / mL)

<Measurement of enzyme activity>
To a 10 ml sterilized test tube, add 2 ml of 0.1 mol / L Tris buffer (pH = 7) and the protein solution obtained in Examples 1 to 6 or Comparative Examples 1 to 3 with a 5 μl micropipette and mix gently. It was. Furthermore, 1 ml of 3.5 mmol / Lp-nitrophenyl acetate solution was added, and the absorbance (400 nm) of the hydrolysis product p-nitrophenol was measured for 3 minutes with an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation, UV-2550). Each measurement was performed for 12 minutes, and the initial rate of hydrolysis reaction was calculated from the rate of increase in absorbance with respect to time.
In addition, natural lipase aqueous solutions having the same concentrations as the respective protein concentrations of Examples 1 to 6 or Comparative Examples 1 to 3 were prepared, and the initial rate of the hydrolysis reaction of p-nitrophenyl acetate was used in the same manner as described above. Calculated.
The enzyme activities (%) of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 were calculated by the following formula.
Enzyme activity (%) = [initial rate when using the proteins obtained in Examples and Comparative Examples / initial rate when using natural lipase] × 100

<Evaluation of protein productivity>
Protein productivity was defined and evaluated with the following indicators. The results are shown in Table 1.
Productivity index = protein concentration in the refolding process (mg / mL) x enzyme activity (%)

By using the refolding agent and the refolding method of the present invention, various useful proteins can be produced with high purity and efficiency.
Examples of the protein obtained by the protein production method of the present invention include enzymes, recombinant proteins, and nucleic acids.

Claims (9)

  A refolding agent comprising a compound (A) which is an unfolded protein refolding agent and has one or more groups selected from the group consisting of a carboxyl group, a carboxylate anion group and an ester group.   The refolding agent according to claim 1, wherein the compound (A) is a compound having at least one carboxyl group or carboxylate anion group in the molecule.   The refolding agent according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the compound (A) is at least one selected from the group consisting of formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and salts thereof.   The refolding agent according to claim 3, wherein the unfolded protein is a protein unfolded with guanidine hydrochloride and / or urea.   A method for refolding an unfolded protein, comprising the step of treating the protein with the refolding agent according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the concentration of the compound (A) in the system is 0. A refolding method of 01 to 6 mol / L.   The refolding method according to claim 5, wherein in the step of treating with the refolding agent, at least one selected from the group consisting of a surfactant, a pH adjuster and an enzyme stabilizer is further used.   The protein refolding method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the protein concentration in the system in the step of treating with the refolding agent is 0.01 to 30 mg / mL.   A method for producing a protein comprising a step of refolding by the refolding method according to claim 5.   A protein obtained by the production method according to claim 8.