US20110052525A1 - Breaking Immunological Tolerance with a Genetically Encoded Unnatural Amino Acid - Google Patents

Breaking Immunological Tolerance with a Genetically Encoded Unnatural Amino Acid Download PDF

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US20110052525A1
US20110052525A1 US12/735,575 US73557509A US2011052525A1 US 20110052525 A1 US20110052525 A1 US 20110052525A1 US 73557509 A US73557509 A US 73557509A US 2011052525 A1 US2011052525 A1 US 2011052525A1
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unnatural
phe
pno
amino acid
immunogen
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Jan Grunewald
Meng-Lin Tsao
Roshan Perera
Richard A. Lerner
Vaughn V. Smider
Peter G. Schultz
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Scripps Research Institute
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Scripps Research Institute
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Publication of US20110052525A1 publication Critical patent/US20110052525A1/en
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Assigned to NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH), U.S. DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (DHHS), U.S. GOVERNMENT reassignment NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH), U.S. DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (DHHS), U.S. GOVERNMENT CONFIRMATORY LICENSE (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Assigned to NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH - DIRECTOR DEITR reassignment NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH - DIRECTOR DEITR CONFIRMATORY LICENSE (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
    • C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
    • C07K16/24—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against cytokines, lymphokines or interferons
    • C07K16/241—Tumor Necrosis Factors
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K31/00—Medicinal preparations containing organic active ingredients
    • A61K31/185—Acids; Anhydrides, halides or salts thereof, e.g. sulfur acids, imidic, hydrazonic or hydroximic acids
    • A61K31/19—Carboxylic acids, e.g. valproic acid
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies
    • A61K39/0005—Vertebrate antigens
    • A61K39/0008—Antigens related to auto-immune diseases; Preparations to induce self-tolerance
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P25/00—Drugs for disorders of the nervous system
    • A61P25/28—Drugs for disorders of the nervous system for treating neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system, e.g. nootropic agents, cognition enhancers, drugs for treating Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
    • A61P31/04—Antibacterial agents
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
    • A61P31/10—Antimycotics
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
    • A61P31/12—Antivirals
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P33/00—Antiparasitic agents
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P33/00—Antiparasitic agents
    • A61P33/02—Antiprotozoals, e.g. for leishmaniasis, trichomoniasis, toxoplasmosis
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P35/00—Antineoplastic agents
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
    • A61P37/02—Immunomodulators
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
    • A61P37/02—Immunomodulators
    • A61P37/04—Immunostimulants
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
    • C07K16/44—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material not provided for elsewhere, e.g. haptens, metals, DNA, RNA, amino acids

Definitions

  • the current invention relates to the field of immunology. More specifically, the present invention provides compositions and methods for producing an immunological response in a subject against a self-antigen, e.g., TNF ⁇ , or any of a myriad of other self-antigens, or producing or increasing an immunological response in a subject against a foreign (non-self) antigen, by administering an immunogen that corresponds to a target moiety (i.e., either the self-moiety or the foreign-moiety) into which one or more unnatural amino acids have been incorporated.
  • a target moiety i.e., either the self-moiety or the foreign-moiety
  • a major challenge in modern medicine concerns the treatment of medical conditions that either do not elicit production of antibodies by a subject (e.g., due to the subject's immunological tolerance to self-antigens) or which do not elicit strong/robust antibody responses (e.g., certain bacterial/viral infections).
  • TNF ⁇ involved/implicated in Crohn's disease, endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, etc.
  • IL 10 involved in SLE
  • the ability to selectively induce a strong immune response against self-proteins, or to increase the immunogenicity of specific epitopes of foreign antigens, is significant in the production of vaccines for a number of disease states, including cancer, protein folding diseases, and infectious diseases (e.g., bacterial or viral infections).
  • the current invention utilizes the incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins to produce unnatural immunogens to be used in vaccinations or to produce antibodies to be used in passive immunization.
  • the immunogens to which the unnatural amino acids are added correspond to target moieties (e.g., disease related moieties) within the subject to be vaccinated/immunized or correspond to target moieties (e.g., disease related moieties) that are capable of being within the subject.
  • target moieties e.g., disease related moieties
  • target moieties e.g., disease related moieties
  • the presence of the unnatural amino acid elicits an immunological response against the immunogen which is cross reactive against the target (e.g., disease related) moiety.
  • the invention provides methods of producing or enhancing an immunological response, e.g., a B-cell mediated response and/or a T-cell mediated response, in a subject against a target moiety, e.g., a polypeptide, a carbohydrate, or a combination of both, that is in the subject or that is capable of being within the subject.
  • the methods include providing an unnatural immunogen that comprises one or more unnatural amino acids, and administering the unnatural immunogen to the subject.
  • the subject e.g., a human, a monkey, a mouse, a rat, a pig, a cow, a chicken, a cage bird, an aviary bird, a reptile, and/or an amphibian
  • produces one or more antibodies against the unnatural immunogen which antibodies are cross-reactive against the target moiety (thus producing or enhancing the immunogenic response against the target).
  • the unnatural immunogen administered to the subject to produce or enhance an immunological response corresponds to at least one target moiety within the subject (or to at least one moiety that is capable of being within the subject).
  • the target moiety can comprise a first amino acid sequence
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a second amino acid sequence that is the same as the target's sequence, except that one or more natural amino acids of the target moiety's sequence have been substituted with one or more unnatural amino acids in the immunogen's sequence.
  • the target moiety can comprise a first amino acid sequence
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a second amino acid sequence, that is the same as the target moiety's sequence except that the immunogen's sequence further comprises one or more additional unnatural amino acids.
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a substantially similar structure to the target moiety from which it is derived and/or it can comprise tertiary and/or quaternary structure that is substantially similar to the target moiety from which it is derived.
  • the one or more unnatural amino acids present in the unnatural immunogen can optionally be antibody accessible.
  • the one or more cross-reactive antibodies produced in the methods of this aspect can optionally be specific for an epitope on the target moiety that comprises the same sequence as the corresponding epitope on the unnatural immunogen.
  • the cross-reactive antibodies can optionally be specific for an epitope on the target moiety that comprises a different sequence as compared to the corresponding epitope on the unnatural immunogen, e.g., a different sequence that optionally comprises the one or more unnatural amino acids.
  • an unnatural immunogen that is derived from a target moiety can be produced in a variety of ways.
  • the unnatural immunogen is produced in an orthogonal translation system.
  • the unnatural immunogen can optionally be produced in in an in vivo translation system (e.g., via selective pressure incorporation); in an in vitro translation system (e.g., using tRNAs that have been chemically acylated with an unnatural amino acid); by a process other than post-translational modification; or by a process other than chemical modification of one of the 20 naturally occurring canonical amino acids present in the immunogen.
  • the unnatural amino acids that can be incorporated into an unnatural immunogen can optionally comprise any unnatural amino acid other than one of the 20 naturally occurring canonical amino acids.
  • the unnatural amino acid that can be incorporated can also comprise any one other than one of the 20 cannonical amino acids wherein the unnatural amino acid comprises a structure of:
  • R is any substituent other than a side chain used in any of the 20 canonical natural amino acids; wherein R 1 is any substituent used in one of the 20 canonical natural amino acids; wherein R2 is any substituent such that R2-R1 together is other than a side chain of any of the 20 canonical natural amino acids; wherein Z is OH, NH 2 , SH, NH—R′, or S—R′; wherein R′ is any substituent other than H; and wherein X and Y are each S or O and where R is of the L configuration if R′ is H).
  • the one or more unnatural amino acids that can be incorporated into an immunogen can optionally include one or more: p-nitrophenylalanine; an o-nitrophenylalanine; an m-nitrophenylalanine; a p-boronyl Phe; an o-boronyl Phe; an m-boronyl Phe; a p-amino Phe; an o-amino Phe; an m-amino Phe; a p-acyl Phe; an o-acyl Phe; an m-acyl Phe; a p-OMe Phe; an o-OMe Phe; an m-OMe Phe; a p-sulfo Phe; an o-sulfo Phe; an m-sulfo Phe; a 5-nitro His; a 3-nitro Tyr; a 2-nitro Tyr; a nitro substituted Leu; a nitro substituted His; a nitro substituted His
  • the target moiety against which an immunological response is produced or enhanced can be a non-self moiety, e.g., a moiety derived from a bacterium, a virus, a fungus, a Mycoplasma , a protozoan, a helminth, or a prion.
  • a non-self moiety e.g., a moiety derived from a bacterium, a virus, a fungus, a Mycoplasma , a protozoan, a helminth, or a prion.
  • a non-self target moiety can optionally include one or more of: a bacterial antigen, a viral antigen, a fungal antigen, a mycoplasmal antigen, a protozoan antigen, a helminth antigen, a prion antigen, an HIV antigen, HIVgp120, HIV gp41, HIV gag, HIV pol, HIV env, HIV tat, HIV nef, HIV rev, a calicivirus capsid antigen, a hepatitis B core antigen, a hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis delta agent, a herpes simplex virus glycoprotein, a varicella zoster virus glycoprotein, an influenza virus hemagglutinin, an influenza virus neuraminidase, an influenza virus nucleoprotein, a HPV capsid protein, a parainfluenza virus hemagglutinin/neuraminidase, a poliovirus capsid polypeptid
  • the target non-self moiety can optionally be derived from (or arising from) one or more of: a bacterium, a virus, a fungus, a Mycoplasma , a protozoan, a helminth, a prion, an Actinomyces , a Bacillus , a Bacteroides , a Bordetella , a Bartonella , a Borrelia , a Brucella , a Campylobacter , a Capnocytophaga , a Chlamydia , a Clostridium , a Corynebacterium , a Coxiella , a Dermatophilus , a Enterococcus , a Ehrlichia , a Escherichia , a Francisella , a Fusobacterium , a Haemobartonella , a Haemophilus , a Helicobacter ,
  • the target moiety against which an immunological response is produced or enhanced can optionally comprise a self-moiety of the subject.
  • the self moiety can optionally comprise any of a variety of disease-related moieties, e.g., a self antigen related to an autoimmune disease, a tumor associated antigen, an Alzheimer's disease associated antigen, amyloid beta40, amyloid beta42, a breast cancer associated antigen, an ovarian cancer associated antigen, a prostate cancer associated antigen, MAGE, BAGE, RAGE, NY-ESO, a lineage-specific tumor associated antigen, a melanocyte-melanoma lineage antigen, MART-1/Melan-A, a tyrosinase or tyrosinase-related protein, tyrosinase-related protein 2, PSMA, PSA, mutated ras, rearranged bcr/ab1, Her2/neu, mutated or wild-type p53,
  • the target self-moiety is TNF ⁇ and the unnatural immunogen is an unnatural TNF ⁇ .
  • the target moiety can be mTNF ⁇
  • the immunogen can be an unnatural mTNF ⁇ , e.g., an unnatural mTNF ⁇ that comprises pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , or pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • the target self-moiety can be an hTNF ⁇
  • the immunogen can be an unnatural hTNF ⁇ , e.g., a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ c, a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • the invention provides methods of prophylactically or therapeutically treating a disease state in a subject, e.g., by producing a B-cell mediated response and/or a T-cell mediated response in the subject.
  • the disease state can be, but is not limited to, one or more of: an autoimmune disorder, a cancer, a bacterial infection, a viral infection, a fungal infection, a Mycoplasma infection, a prion infection, a protozoan infection, or a helminth infection.
  • One set of methods of the aspect includes administering an unnatural immunogen that comprises one or more unnatural amino acids to a subject, e.g., a human, a monkey, a mouse, a rat, a pig, a cow, a chicken, a cage bird, an aviary bird, a reptile, or an amphibian.
  • the unnatural immunogen thus stimulates production of antibodies within the subject that are cross-reactive against one or more target moieties, e.g., polypeptides and/or carbohydrates, in the subject, or against one or more target moieties capable of being within the subject, that are associated with the disease state.
  • the invention comprises prophyllactically or therapeutically treating a disease state in a subject by producing an antibody against one or more target moieties (e.g., a disease related moiety that is associated with the disease state/condition).
  • Producing such an antibody comprises creating an antibody against an unnatural immunogen comprising one or more unnatural amino acids, which antibody is cross-reactive against the target moiety. The antibody is then administered to the subject.
  • the unnatural immunogen in the methods of this aspect typically corresponds to at least one target moiety within the subject (or to at least one target moiety that is capable of being within the subject).
  • the target moiety can comprise a first amino acid sequence
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a second amino acid sequence that is the same as the target's sequence, except that one or more natural amino acids of the target's sequence have been substituted with one or more unnatural amino acids in the immunogen's.
  • the target moiety can comprise a first amino acid sequence
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a second amino acid sequence, where the immunogen's sequence is the same as the target's sequence except that the immunogen's sequence further comprises one or more additional unnatural amino acids.
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a substantially similar structure to the target moiety from which it is derived and/or can comprise tertiary and/or quaternary structure that is substantially similar to the target moiety from which it is derived.
  • the one or more unnatural amino acids present in the unnatural immunogens of the methods of the aspect can optionally be antibody accessible.
  • the one or more cross-reactive antibodies can optionally be specific for an epitope on the target moiety that comprises the same sequence as the corresponding epitope on the unnatural immunogen.
  • the cross-reactive antibodies can optionally be specific for an epitope on the target moiety that comprises a different sequence as compared to the corresponding epitope on the unnatural immunogen, e.g., a different sequence that optionally comprises one or more unnatural amino acid.
  • the immunogen that is administered to the subject or against which an antibody is produced can be produced by any of the methods described in the earlier aspects or elsewhere herein.
  • the unnatural immunogen can optionally include any unnatural amino acid, e.g., any of the unnatural amino acids described in the earlier aspects or elsewhere herein.
  • the target moiety can optionally comprise a non-self moiety, e.g., including any of the non-self moieties described in the earlier aspects or elsewhere herein, or a self-moiety, e.g., a disease-related self-moiety, such as those described in the earlier aspects or elsewhere herein.
  • the target moiety is TNF ⁇
  • the methods of prophylatically or therapeutically treating a disease state can optionally include treating any one or more of the following disease states: endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, an autoimmune disorder, multiple organ failure, multiple sclerosis, cardiac dysfunction, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, insulin resistance, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cachexia, septic shock, AIDS, graft-versus-host disease, bactericidal granulomas, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
  • the target moiety can be an mTNF ⁇
  • the immunogen can be an unnatural mTNF ⁇ , e.g., an unnatural mTNF ⁇ comprising a pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ : a pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • an unnatural mTNF ⁇ comprising a pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ : a pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ ,
  • the self-moiety can be an hTNF ⁇
  • the immunogen can be an unnatural hTNF ⁇ , e.g., a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • the invention provides methods of producing a vaccine (as well as a vaccine produced thereby), such methods include identifying a target moiety, e.g., a polypeptide and/or carbohydrate, that does not comprise an unnatural amino acid, for antibody therapy, providing an unnatural immunogen that comprises one or more unnatural amino acids, and admixing the unnatural immunogen with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvant, carrier or excipient, thus producing the vaccine.
  • the unnatural immunogen that is provided in these methods can be structurally similar to the target moiety such that when administered to a subject, e.g., as described in the earlier aspects or elsewhere herein, the subject will produce antibodies against the unnatural immunogen that are cross-reactive against the target moiety.
  • the unnatural immunogen in the methods of this aspect corresponds to at least one target moiety, within the subject (or to at least one target moiety that is capable of being within the subject).
  • the target moiety can comprise a first amino acid sequence and the unnatural immunogen can comprise a second amino acid sequence that is the same as the target's sequence, except that one or more natural amino acids of the target's sequence have been substituted with one or more unnatural amino acids in the immunogen's sequence.
  • the target moiety can comprise a first amino acid sequence and the unnatural immunogen can comprise a second amino acid sequence, where the immunogen's sequence is the same as the target's sequence except that the immunogen's sequence further comprises one or more additional unnatural amino acids.
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise a substantially similar structure to the target moiety from which it is derived and/or can comprise tertiary and/or quaternary structure that is substantially similar to the target moiety from which it is derived.
  • the unnatural amino acid(s) present in the unnatural immunogen can optionally be antibody accessible.
  • the one or more cross-reactive antibodies can optionally be specific for an epitope on the target moiety that comprises the same sequence as the corresponding epitope on the unnatural immunogen.
  • the cross-reactive antibodies can optionally be specific for an epitope on the target moiety that comprises a different sequence as compared to the corresponding epitope on the unnatural immunogen, e.g., a different sequence that optionally comprises one or more unnatural amino acids.
  • the immunogen that is provided to produce a vaccine can itself be produced by any of the methods described in the aspects above or elsewhere herein.
  • the unnatural immunogen can optionally include any of the unnatural amino acids described in the aspects above or elsewhere herein.
  • the target moiety can optionally comprise a non-self moiety, e.g., including any the non-self antigens or moieties described in the aspects above or elsewhere herein, or a self-moiety, e.g., a disease-related self-moiety, such as any of those described in the aspects above or elsewhere herein.
  • the target self-moiety can be TNF ⁇ .
  • the target self-moiety can be an mTNF ⁇
  • the immunogen can be an unnatural mTNF ⁇ , e.g., an unnatural mTNF ⁇ comprising a pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • the target self-moiety can be an hTNF ⁇
  • the immunogen can be an unnatural hTNF ⁇ , e.g., a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • the invention also provides methods of producing an unnatural TNF ⁇ comprising pNO 2 Phe 86 -TNF ⁇ in a cell.
  • the methods include growing a cell in an appropriate medium.
  • the cell can comprise a nucleic acid that encodes a TNF ⁇ and which comprises at least one selector codon at amino acid position 86.
  • the cell can also comprise an orthogonal-tRNA (O-tRNA) that recognizes the selector codon and an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (O—RS) that preferentially animoacylates the O-tRNA with the pNO 2 Phe.
  • OF-tRNA orthogonal-tRNA
  • O—RS orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
  • the methods also include providing a pNO 2 Phe, which permits the (O—RS) that preferentially aminoacylate the O-tRNA with the pNO 2 Phe and permits the orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase to incorporate the pNO 2 Phe into amino acid position 86 in response to the selector codon, thus producing the unnatural TNF ⁇ .
  • Other embodiments herein include methods of producing any other unnatural immunogen with any desired unnatural amino acid at any desired location in the immunogen through similar methods with appropriate modification (e.g., a nucleic acid for the desired immunogen, the appropriate selector codon at the desired locations, the presence of the desired unnatural amino acids, and the appropriate corresponding orthogonal machinery ORS, OtRNA, etc.).
  • Unnatural mTNF ⁇ s provided by the invention include pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • Unnatural hTNF ⁇ s provided by the invention include a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , and a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • Compositions comprising these unnatural TNF ⁇ s are also provided herein
  • the invention also provides antibodies against the unnatural TNF ⁇ 's described above and compositions comprising these antibodies.
  • the invention also provides antibodies that are cross-reactive against a natural TNF ⁇ that does not comprise any unnatural amino acids and a TNF ⁇ comprising one or more unnatural amino acid as well as compositions that include these antibodies.
  • the invention also provides an unnatural mRBP4 comprising a pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 and compositions that include such unnatural mRBP4.
  • the invention provides antibodies against this unnatural mRBP4 that are cross-reactive against an RBP4, which does not comprise an unnatural amino acid, and compositions that include these antibodies.
  • the one or more unnatural amino acids that are incorporated into the unnatural immunogen are done so during synthesis of the immunogen.
  • the one or more unnatural amino acids are incorporated into the unnatural immunogen through a process other than post-translational modification or post-synthesis chemical modification.
  • the one or more unnatural amino acids are incorporated into the unnatural immunogen through one or more of: orthogonal translation; in vitro translation; native chemical ligation; expressed protein ligation; or solid-phase synthesis.
  • the unnatural immunogen comprises one or more of the 20 naturally occurring canonical amino acids that has been glycosylated, nitroaryl modified, nitrated, aklylated, acetylated, oxidized, sulfated, or phosphorylated (e.g., glycosylated, nitroaryl modified, nitrated, alkylated, acetylated, oxidized, sulfated, or phosphorylated by a process other than post-translational modification or by a process other than chemical modification).
  • canonical amino acids e.g., glycosylated, nitroaryl modified, nitrated, alkylated, acetylated, oxidized, sulfated, or phosphorylated by a process other than post-translational modification or by a process other than chemical modification.
  • kits can optionally comprise one or more containers, labels, and instructions, as well components for construction of antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens and/or actual antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens (e.g., unnatural TNF ⁇ s).
  • the kits can also optionally comprise one or more antibody (e.g., an antibody against an unnatural immunogen, which antibody is cross-reactive against a natural target moiety within a subject) and/or one or more unnatural immunogen as well as optionally other components (e.g., various antibiotics, various antifungal agents, etc.).
  • kits can optionally include tubes or other containers (e.g., of glass, plastic, nylon, cotton, polyester, metal, etc.) to store the components or in which to mix/prepare the components as well as one or more devices with which to administer such to a subject (e.g., a human in need of treatment, etc.).
  • the device with which to administer the components to the subject comprises the container in which the components are stored and/or mixed/prepared.
  • kits can also optionally include additional components in addition to the antibody/unnatural immunogen components of the invention, e.g., buffers, diluents, filters, dressings, bandages, applicators, gauze, barriers, semi-permeable barriers, tongue depressors, needles, and syringes, etc.
  • additional components e.g., buffers, diluents, filters, dressings, bandages, applicators, gauze, barriers, semi-permeable barriers, tongue depressors, needles, and syringes, etc.
  • kits comprise instructions (e.g., typically written instructions) relating to the use of the kit to treat a subject for one or more medical condition/disease state).
  • the kits comprise a URL address or phone number or the like for users to contact for instructions or further instructions.
  • the kits can be unit doses, bulk packages (e.g., multi-dose packages), or sub-unit doses.
  • an “antibody” refers to a protein comprising one or more polypeptides substantially or partially encoded by immunoglobulin genes or fragments of immunoglobulin genes.
  • the recognized immunoglobulin genes include the kappa, lambda, alpha, gamma, delta, epsilon and mu constant region genes, as well as myriad immunoglobulin variable region genes.
  • Light chains are classified as either kappa or lambda.
  • Heavy chains are classified as gamma, mu, alpha, delta, or epsilon, which in turn define the immunoglobulin classes, IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgE, respectively.
  • a typical immunoglobulin, e.g., antibody, structural unit comprises a tetramer.
  • Each tetramer is composed of two identical pairs of polypeptide chains, each pair having one “light” (about 25 kD) and one “heavy” chain (about 50-70 kD).
  • the N-terminus of each chain defines a variable region of about 100 to 110 or more amino acids primarily responsible for antigen recognition.
  • the terms variable light chain (VL) and variable heavy chain (V H ) refer to these light and heavy chains, respectively.
  • Antibodies can exist as intact immunoglobulins or as a number of well-characterized fragments produced by digestion with various peptidases.
  • pepsin digests an antibody below the disulfide linkages in the hinge region to produce F(ab′) 2 , a dimer of Fab which itself is a light chain joined to V H -C H 1 by a disulfide bond.
  • the F(ab′) 2 may be reduced under mild conditions to break the disulfide linkage in the hinge region thereby converting the F(ab′) 2 dimer into an Fab′ monomer.
  • the Fab′ monomer is essentially an Fab with part of the hinge region (see, Fundamental Immunology , W. E.
  • Antibodies include single chain antibodies, including single chain Fv (sFv or scFv) antibodies in which a variable heavy and a variable light chain are joined together (directly or through a peptide linker) to form a continuous polypeptide.
  • sFv or scFv single chain Fv
  • an antibody that “cross-reacts” with two or more different moieties is capable of binding to each of the different moieties, e.g. as determined by ELISA, FACS or other methods known to those of skill in the art.
  • an antibody that binds with an unnatural TNF ⁇ e.g., any one of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s described herein, such as pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , and that also binds with native (or natural) TNF ⁇ (which does not comprise any unnatural amino acids), thus cross-reacts with the two moieties.
  • an antibody against an unnatural protein cross-reacts with the natural version of the same protein (i.e., the same protein, but which does not comprise an unnatural amino acid).
  • an antibody that binds to an unnatural molecule cross-reacts to the natural version of the same molecule at about 1-50% or 50-100% or more of the binding ability of the antibody for the unnatural molecule.
  • Antigen is used herein to refer to a molecule or substance that induces an antibody response in a subject immunized therewith.
  • the antigen may be a protein, peptide, carbohydrate, nucleic acid, lipid, hapten or other naturally occurring or synthetic compound (or combination thereof).
  • the antigen can be, e.g., an innate (self) antigen, or can be derived from, e.g., a bacterium, a virus, a parasite, a fungus, etc.
  • the term also intends any of the various tumor antigens, autoimmune disease related antigens, etc.
  • Cognate refers to components that function together, or have some aspect of specificity for each other, e.g., an orthogonal tRNA (O-tRNA) and an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (O—RS), in which the O—RS specifically aminoacylates the O-tRNA with an unnatural amino acid.
  • O-tRNA orthogonal tRNA
  • O—RS orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
  • a polypeptide that is derived from a second polypeptide can include an amino acid sequence that is identical or substantially similar to the amino acid sequence of the second polypeptide.
  • the derived species can be obtained by, for example, naturally occurring mutagenesis, artificial directed mutagenesis or artificial random mutagenesis.
  • the mutagenesis used to derive polypeptides can be intentionally directed or intentionally random, or a mixture of both.
  • the mutagenesis of a polypeptide to create a different polypeptide derived from the first can be a random event, e.g., caused by polymerase infidelity, and the identification of the derived polypeptide can be made by appropriate screening methods, e.g., as discussed in references cited herein.
  • Mutagenesis of a polypeptide typically entails manipulation of the polynucleotide that encodes the polypeptide.
  • Target moiety or target molecule A “target moiety,” a “target molecule,” a “target protein moiety,” a “target antigen” and the like refer to a moiety, e.g., a protein, peptide, carbohydrate, lipid, nucleic acid, or combination of any of such, against which it is desirable to create/enhance an immunological response through use of the current invention.
  • a target moiety can be an innate (self) or an exogenous (foreign) molecule.
  • a target moiety is one upon which the unnatural immunogen is modeled or designed, from which it is derived, to which it corresponds, etc.
  • an unnatural immunogen comprises the same, or nearly the same, sequence as a target moiety except that the unnatural immunogen comprises one or more unnatural amino acids (and is created through, e.g., orthogonal translation systems, in vitro translation systems, etc. and/or through methods other than post-translational or chemical modification).
  • a target moiety is a disease related moiety, i.e., a moiety that arises or is present in a subject due to a disease state (e.g., cancer, autoimmune disorders, or from/caused by an infectious organism, such as a bacterium, virus, prion, mycoplasm, fungus, parasite, etc.).
  • a natural target moiety i.e., not comprising an unnatural amino acid
  • an unnatural version of a target moiety is antigenic and/or immunogenic (whether or not the natural target moiety is antigenic and/or immunogenic).
  • a target moiety e.g., a moiety that is similar to the natural target moiety but which comprises one or more unnatural amino acids as replacement of corresponding natural amino acids in the target moiety and/or as additions to the amino acids of the target moiety
  • Such unnatural target moieties are described as “unnatural target moieties,” “unnatural antigens,” or, more often, as “unnatural immunogens,” or the like herein.
  • an “unnatural” immunogen, moiety, molecule, etc., herein is one that comprises one or more unnatural amino acid.
  • the unnatural amino acid is optionally either wholly or partially accessible to an antibody (e.g., an antibody can bind to the region of the moiety comprising the unnatural amino acid).
  • Effective amount means a dosage or amount sufficient to produce a desired result.
  • the desired result may comprise an objective or subjective improvement in the recipient of the dosage or amount (e.g., production of cross-reactive antibodies, long-term survival, decrease in number and/or size of tumors, effective prevention or partial prevention of a disease state, etc.).
  • Encode refers to any process whereby the information in a polymeric macromolecule or sequence string is used to direct the production of a second molecule or sequence string that is different from the first molecule or sequence string.
  • the term is used broadly herein, and can have a variety of applications.
  • the term “encode” describes the process of semi-conservative DNA replication, where one strand of a double-stranded DNA molecule is used as a template to encode a newly synthesized complementary sister strand by a DNA-dependent DNA polymerase.
  • the term “encode” refers to any process whereby the information in one molecule is used to direct the production of a second molecule that has a different chemical nature from the first molecule.
  • a DNA molecule can encode an RNA molecule, e.g., by the process of transcription incorporating a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzyme.
  • an RNA molecule can encode a polypeptide, as in the process of translation.
  • the term “encode” also extends to the triplet codon that encodes an amino acid.
  • an RNA molecule can encode a DNA molecule, e.g., by the process of reverse transcription incorporating an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase.
  • a DNA molecule can encode a polypeptide, where it is understood that “encode” as used in that case incorporates both the processes of transcription and translation.
  • Immunogen refers to a moiety, which optionally can be administered to a subject, which induces an immunological response.
  • An “unnatural immunogen” is a moiety, e.g., a target moiety such as a disease-related moiety, comprising one or more unnatural amino acids and which can be administered to a subject to induce an immunological response. See also above.
  • an unnatural immunogen can induce an immunological response that is protective against a disease (or that can be used to treat a disease state) associated with the natural target moiety from which the unnatural immunogen is derived (or to which the unnatural immunogen corresponds, etc.).
  • Immunogenic composition is a composition that comprises one or more molecule where administration of the composition to a subject results in the development in the subject of a humoral and/or a cellular immune response to the moiety.
  • the immunogenic composition can be introduced directly into a recipient subject, such as by injection, inhalation, oral, intranasal and mucosal (e.g., intra-rectally or intra-vaginally) administration.
  • Immunological response or immune response An “immunological response” or “immune response” to a moiety or composition thereof is the development in a subject of a cellular and/or antibody-mediated immune response to the moiety.
  • an immunological response includes but is not limited to one or more of the following effects: the production of antibodies (preferably), B cells, helper T cells, suppressor T cells, and/or cytotoxic T cells and/or ⁇ T cells, directed specifically to one or more antigen of the moiety.
  • the subject will display either a therapeutic or prophylactic immunological response such that resistance to a new challenge with the moiety will be enhanced and/or the clinical severity of the disease state caused by/associated with the moiety is reduced.
  • the term “in response to” refers to the process in which an O-tRNA recognizes a selector codon and mediates the incorporation of the unnatural amino acid, which is coupled to the tRNA, into the growing polypeptide chain.
  • Orthogonal refers to a molecule, e.g., an orthogonal tRNA (O-tRNA) and/or an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (O—RS)) that functions with endogenous components of a cell with reduced efficiency as compared to a corresponding molecule that is endogenous to the cell or translation system, or that fails to function with endogenous components of the cell.
  • O-tRNA orthogonal tRNA
  • O—RS orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
  • orthogonal refers to an inability or reduced efficiency, e.g., less than 20% efficiency, less than 10% efficiency, less than 5% efficiency, or less than 1% efficiency, of an orthogonal tRNA to function with an endogenous tRNA synthetase compared to an endogenous tRNA to function with the endogenous tRNA synthetase, or of an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase to function with an endogenous tRNA compared to an endogenous tRNA synthetase to function with the endogenous tRNA.
  • the orthogonal molecule lacks a functionally normal endogenous complementary molecule in the cell.
  • an orthogonal tRNA in a cell is aminoacylated by any endogenous RS of the cell with reduced or even zero efficiency, when compared to aminoacylation of an endogenous tRNA by the endogenous RS.
  • an orthogonal RS aminoacylates any endogenous tRNA a cell of interest with reduced or even zero efficiency, as compared to aminoacylation of the endogenous tRNA by an endogenous RS.
  • a second orthogonal molecule can be introduced into the cell that functions with the first orthogonal molecule.
  • an orthogonal tRNA/RS pair includes introduced complementary components that function together in the cell with an efficiency, e.g., 45% efficiency, 50% efficiency, 60% efficiency, 70% efficiency, 75% efficiency, 80% efficiency, 90% efficiency, 95% efficiency, or 99% or more efficiency, as compared to that of a control, e.g., a corresponding tRNA/RS endogenous pair, or an active orthogonal pair.
  • an efficiency e.g., 45% efficiency, 50% efficiency, 60% efficiency, 70% efficiency, 75% efficiency, 80% efficiency, 90% efficiency, 95% efficiency, or 99% or more efficiency, as compared to that of a control, e.g., a corresponding tRNA/RS endogenous pair, or an active orthogonal pair.
  • an orthogonal aminoacyl tRNA synthetase is an enzyme that preferentially aminoacylates the O-tRNA with an amino acid in a translation system of interest.
  • the amino acid that the O—RS loads onto the O-tRNA can be any amino acid, whether natural, unnatural or artificial, and is not limited herein.
  • the synthetase is optionally the same as, or homologous to, a naturally occurring tyrosyl amino acid synthetase, or the same as, or homologous to, a synthetase designated as an O—RS.
  • an orthogonal tRNA is a tRNA that is orthogonal to a translation system of interest, where the tRNA is, e.g., (1) identical or substantially similar to a naturally occurring tRNA, (2) derived from a naturally occurring tRNA by natural or artificial mutagenesis, (3) derived by any process that takes a sequence of a wild-type or mutant tRNA sequence of (1) or (2) into account, (4) homologous to a wild-type or mutant tRNA; (5) homologous to any example tRNA that is designated as a substrate for an orthogonal tRNA synthetase or (6) a conservative variant of any example tRNA that is designated as a substrate for an orthogonal tRNA synthetase.
  • the O-tRNA can exist charged with an amino acid, or in an uncharged state. It is also to be understood that an “O-tRNA” optionally is charged (aminoacylated) by a cognate synthetase with an unnatural amino acid. Indeed, it will be appreciated that an O-tRNA is advantageously used to insert essentially any unnatural amino acid into a growing polypeptide, during translation, in response to a selector codon.
  • composition refers to a composition suitable for pharmaceutical use in, or administration to, a subject, including an animal or human.
  • a pharmaceutical composition generally comprises an effective amount of an active agent, e.g., an antibody and/or unnatural immunogen of the invention, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, a buffer, adjuvant, or the like.
  • a “pharmaceutically acceptable” or “pharmacologically acceptable” material is one that is not biologically or otherwise undesirable, i.e., the material may be administered to an individual in a formulation or composition without causing any (or causing few) undesirable biological effects or interacting in a deleterious manner with any of the components of the composition in which it is contained.
  • a polypeptide is any oligomer of amino acid residues (natural or unnatural, or a combination thereof), of any length, typically but not exclusively joined by covalent peptide bonds.
  • a polypeptide can be from any source, e.g., a naturally occurring polypeptide, a polypeptide produced by recombinant molecular genetic techniques, a polypeptide from a cell or translation system, or a polypeptide produced by cell-free synthetic means.
  • a polypeptide is characterized by its amino acid sequence, e.g., the primary structure of its component amino acid residues. As used herein, the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide is not limited to full-length sequences, but can be partial or complete sequences.
  • polypeptide refers to a small polypeptide, for example but not limited to, from 2-25 amino acids in length.
  • an O—RS “preferentially aminoacylates” a cognate O-tRNA when the O—RS charges the O-tRNA with an amino acid more efficiently than it charges any endogenous tRNA in an expression system. That is, when the O-tRNA and any given endogenous tRNA are present in a translation system in approximately equal molar ratios, the O—RS will charge the O-tRNA more frequently than it will charge the endogenous tRNA.
  • the relative ratio of O-tRNA charged by the O—RS to endogenous tRNA charged by the O—RS is high, preferably resulting in the O—RS charging the O-tRNA exclusively, or nearly exclusively, when the O-tRNA and endogenous tRNA are present in equal molar concentrations in the translation system.
  • the relative ratio between O-tRNA and endogenous tRNA that is charged by the O—RS, when the O-tRNA and O—RS are present at equal molar concentrations, is greater than 1:1, preferably at least about 2:1, more preferably 5:1, still more preferably 10:1, yet more preferably 20:1, still more preferably 50:1, yet more preferably 75:1, still more preferably 95:1, 98:1, 99:1, 100:1, 500:1, 1,000:1, 5,000:1 or higher.
  • the O—RS “preferentially aminoacylates an O-tRNA with an unnatural amino acid” when (a) the O—RS preferentially aminoacylates the O-tRNA compared to an endogenous tRNA, and (b) where that aminoacylation is specific for the unnatural amino acid, as compared to aminoacylation of the O-tRNA by the O—RS with any natural amino acid. That is, when the unnatural and natural amino acids are present in equal molar amounts in a translation system comprising the O—RS and O-tRNA, the O—RS will load the O-tRNA with the unnatural amino acid more frequently than with the natural amino acid.
  • the relative ratio of O-tRNA charged with the unnatural amino acid to O-tRNA charged with the natural amino acid is high. More preferably, O—RS charges the O-tRNA exclusively, or nearly exclusively, with the unnatural amino acid.
  • the relative ratio between charging of the O-tRNA with the unnatural amino acid and charging of the O-tRNA with the natural amino acid, when both the natural and unnatural amino acids are present in the translation system in equal molar concentrations, is greater than 1:1, preferably at least about 2:1, more preferably 5:1, still more preferably 10:1, yet more preferably 20:1, still more preferably 50:1, yet more preferably 75:1, still more preferably 95:1, 98:1, 99:1, 100:1, 500:1, 1,000:1, 5,000:1 or higher.
  • Prophylactic treatment is a treatment administered to a subject who does not display signs or symptoms of a disease, pathology, or medical disorder, or displays only early signs or symptoms of a disease, pathology, or disorder, such that treatment is administered for the purpose of diminishing, preventing, or decreasing the risk of developing the disease, pathology, or medical disorder.
  • a prophylactic treatment functions as a preventative treatment against a disease or disorder.
  • a “prophylactic activity” is an activity of an agent, such an unnatural immunogen and/or antibody, or composition thereof, that, when administered to a subject who does not display signs or symptoms of a pathology, disease, or disorder (or who displays only early signs or symptoms of such) diminishes, prevents, or decreases the risk of the subject developing the pathology, disease, or disorder.
  • a “prophylactically useful” agent or compound e.g., an unnatural immunogen and/or antibody of the invention, refers to an agent or compound that is useful in diminishing, preventing, treating, or decreasing development of a pathology, disease, or disorder.
  • Selector codon refers to codons recognized by the O-tRNA in the translation process and not recognized by an endogenous tRNA.
  • the O-tRNA anticodon loop recognizes the selector codon on the mRNA and incorporates its amino acid, e.g., an unnatural amino acid, at this site in the polypeptide.
  • Selector codons can include, e.g., nonsense codons, such as, stop codons, e.g., amber, ochre, and opal codons; four or more base codons; rare codons; codons derived from natural or unnatural base pairs and/or the like.
  • subject includes, but is not limited to, a mammal, including, e.g., a human, non-human primate (e.g., monkey), mouse, pig, cow, goat, rabbit, rat, guinea pig, hamster, horse, monkey, sheep, or other non-human mammal, or a non-mammal, including, e.g., a non-mammalian vertebrate, such as a bird (e.g., a chicken or duck).
  • the methods and compositions of the invention are used to treat (both prophylactically and/or therapeutically) non-human animals.
  • Many commercially important animals are susceptible to, e.g., various cancers or autoimmune conditions, or various infections (e.g., viral/bacterial, etc.) that can optionally be treated with the current invention.
  • a “therapeutic treatment” is a treatment administered to a subject who displays symptoms or signs of pathology, disease, or disorder, in which treatment is administered to the subject for the purpose of diminishing or eliminating those signs or symptoms of pathology, disease, or disorder, e.g., typically through diminishing and/or eliminating the disease state that created the signs/symptoms.
  • a “therapeutic activity” is an activity of an agent, such a protein and/or antibody, or composition thereof, which eliminates or diminishes signs or symptoms of a pathology, disease or disorder, when administered to a subject suffering from such signs or symptoms.
  • a “therapeutically useful” agent or compound indicates that an agent or compound is useful in diminishing, treating, or eliminating such signs or symptoms of the pathology, disease or disorder.
  • Translation system refers to the components that incorporate an amino acid into a growing polypeptide chain (protein).
  • Components of a translation system can include, e.g., ribosomes, tRNAs, synthetases, mRNA and the like.
  • treatment in general refers to the prevention of infection or re-infection, the reduction or elimination of symptoms, and/or the substantial or complete elimination of a pathogen or disease state. Treatment may be effected prophylactically, e.g., prior to infection, prior to start of a disease state, or prior to development of major symptoms of a disease state, or therapeutically, e.g., following infection by a pathogen, following the start of a disease state, or following development of major symptoms of a disease state.
  • Unnatural amino acid refers to any amino acid, modified amino acid, and/or amino acid analogue, that is not one of the 20 common naturally occurring amino acids or the rare naturally occurring amino acids e.g., selenocysteine or pyrrolysine.
  • the unnatural amino acids p-nitrophenylalanine ( FIG. 1A ), p-sulfotyrosine, and p-carboxyphenylalanine find use in various embodiments herein.
  • the unnatural amino acid can include, but is not limited to: p-nitrophenylalanine; an o-nitrophenylalanine; an m-nitrophenylalanine; a p-boronyl Phe; an o-boronyl Phe; an m-boronyl Phe; a p-amino Phe; an o-amino Phe; an m-amino Phe; a p-acyl Phe; an o-acyl Phe; an m-acyl Phe; a p-OMe Phe; an o-OMe Phe; an m-OMe Phe; a p-sulfo Phe; an o-sulfo Phe; an m-sulfo Phe; a 5-nitro His; a 3-nitro Tyr; a 2-nitro Tyr; a nitro substituted Leu; a nitro substituted His; a nitro substituted Ile; a nitro substituted
  • FIG. 1 depicts the chemical structure of pNO 2 Phe, the protein structure of the mTNF ⁇ trimer, and results of experiments performed to determine the efficiency and fidelity with which pNO 2 Phe is incorporated into the mutant mTNF ⁇ protein.
  • FIG. 2 depicts the results of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 3 depicts the results of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of wt-mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 4 depicts the results of FPLC experiments performed to determine the effects of Tyr 86 pNO 2 Phe substitution on the tertiary structure of a mutant mTNF ⁇ protein.
  • FIG. 5 depicts the analysis NF ⁇ B-Luc activity of various mTNF ⁇ mutants.
  • FIG. 6 depicts serum titers for C57BL/6 mice immunized with (a) PBS, (b) WT-mTNF ⁇ , (c) pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or (d) Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 7 depicts serum titers against wt mTNF ⁇ and pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ for Bcl2 mice immunized with wt mTNF ⁇ or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 8 depicts the results of ELISAs against wt mTNF ⁇ or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ performed to determine serum titers for Bcl-2 mice immunized with wt mTNF ⁇ , or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ in the absence of adjuvant.
  • FIG. 9 depicts serum titers against wt mTNF ⁇ and Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ for Bcl2 mice immunized with Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ in the absence or presence of adjuvant.
  • FIG. 10A depicts serum titers against wt mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ , and Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ for C57BL/6 mice immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ or Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 10B depicts serum titer against WTmTNF ⁇ , PBS, and pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ , for C57BL/6 mice immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ or Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 11 depicts results from experiments performed to determine whether immunization with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ improves survival of mice in a TNF ⁇ c-dependent severe endotoxemia model.
  • FIG. 12 depicts the results of MS/MS sequencing of a tryptic fragment of pNO 2 Phe 86 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 13 depicts the results of experiments that were performed to show that the presence of an N-terminal His 6 tag on His 6 -Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (WT) or His 6 -pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ had no influence on the results of subsequent immunization experiments.
  • FIG. 14 depicts the results of experiments performed to determine serum titer durability.
  • FIG. 15 depicts the results of T cell proliferative assays.
  • FIG. 16 shows that pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ immunization promotes class-switching to an IgG response, which displays significant cross-reactivity with WT mTNF ⁇ and lasts for at least 40 weeks in mice.
  • FIG. 17 shows that the four surface-exposed sites on mTNF ⁇ exhibit significant immunogenicity.
  • FIG. 18 shows that there is a significant survival benefit for mice immunized with various pNO 2 Phe mTNF ⁇ mutants after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge.
  • FIG. 19 depicts the results of experiments performed to determine whether the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe the self-antigen mRBP4 can cause loss of tolerance mRBP4.
  • FIG. 20 shows that WT mTNF ⁇ cannot sustain pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ induced loss of tolerance.
  • FIG. 21 shows the mass spectrometric analyses of three mTNF ⁇ fragments.
  • FIG. 22 shows the binding of anti-mTNF ⁇ mAbs to three mTNF ⁇ fragments.
  • FIG. 23 depicts the results of experiments performed to confirm the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe into surface-exposed sites of mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 24 depicts the results of experiments performed to confirm the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe into surface-exposed sites of mRBP4.
  • FIG. 25 shows that MS/MS analyses of tryptic fragments of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 and pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4 matches the pattern for the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe.
  • FIG. 26 depicts the results of experiments that were performed to determine the immunogenicity of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 in C57BL/6 mice.
  • FIG. 27 shows the results of MS/MS sequencing of a pNO 2 Phe-containing tryptic fragment of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4.
  • (B) shows the results of MS/MS sequencing of a pNO 2 Phe-containing tryptic fragment of pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4.
  • the ability to selectively induce a strong immune response against self-proteins or other self-molecules, or to increase the immunogenicity of specific epitopes in foreign antigens, is significant in the production of vaccines for a number of disease states, including cancer, protein folding diseases, and infectious diseases (e.g., bacterial, viral, or other kinds of infections).
  • the current invention utilizes the direct incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins to produce unnatural immunogens that can be beneficially used in vaccinations or to produce antibodies for passive immunization.
  • the proteins into which the unnatural amino acids are incorporated correspond to target moieties (e.g., disease-related moieties) within the subject to be vaccinated/immunized (or correspond to target moieties that are capable of being within the subject).
  • target moieties e.g., disease-related moieties
  • the immunogen with the unnatural amino acid is administered to a subject, the presence of the unnatural amino acid elicits an immunological response against the unnatural immunogen.
  • Antibodies produced by such response are beneficially cross-reactive against the natural target moiety from which the immunogen is derived (or corresponds to), thus producing an immunological response against the target moiety.
  • the methods of the invention are particularly useful in generating an immunological response against non-immunogenic or weakly immunogenic target moieties that are in (or capable of being in) the subject.
  • the invention also includes embodiments in which a subject is administered antibodies produced against the unnatural immunogen (i.e., the immunogen having the unnatural amino acid) that are cross-reactive against the corresponding natural target moiety (again, e.g., disease-related moiety) within (or capable of being within) the subject.
  • the invention results in increased immunological protection against challenge by the target moiety, whether such is an innate self-protein, e.g., TNF ⁇ , or a foreign molecule, e.g., a bacterial antigen.
  • the invention described herein also provides compositions and methods that can be useful in the treatment and/or prevention of pathologies associated with the activity of TNF ⁇ .
  • Tumor necrosis factor alpha is a pleiotropic cytokine that is implicated in exacerbating and/or causing many chronic inflammatory diseases, e.g., septic shock, rheumatoid arthritis, cerebral malaria, and Crohn's disease.
  • the invention provides methods of producing an unnatural TNF ⁇ , e.g., a TNF ⁇ comprising one or more immunogenic, antibody-accessible unnatural amino acid.
  • the invention also provides methods for using an unnatural TNF ⁇ to break immunological tolerance for TNF ⁇ , e.g., to induce the immune system to produce or enhance an immune response against the body's endogenous TNF ⁇ .
  • Neutralizing endogenous TNF ⁇ e.g., with antibodies elicited against an unnatural TNF ⁇ , which antibodies cross react with epitopes on TNF ⁇ , can alleviate or ameliorate symptoms of such diseases as, e.g., endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, autoimmune disorders, multiple organ failure, multiple sclerosis, cardiac dysfunction, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, insulin resistance, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cachexia, septic shock, AIDS, graft-versus-host disease, bactericidal granulomas, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and/or silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
  • diseases e.g., endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, autoimmune disorders, multiple organ
  • the unnatural amino acid p-nitrophenylalanine which comprises a highly immunogenic nitrophenyl moiety, replaces a tyrosine residue at position 86 of the mTNF ⁇ protein to produce an unnatural TNF ⁇ derivative with useful therapeutic and/or prophylactic properties.
  • Additional unnatural TNF ⁇ derivatives that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a subject (e.g., a mouse) include a pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , or a pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • Additional unnatural TNF ⁇ derivatives that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a subject (e.g., a human) include a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , or a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • the invention described herein also provides compositions and methods that can be useful in the treatment and/or prevention of pathologies associated with the activity of retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4).
  • RBP4 has been implicated in presence/development of, e.g., Matthew Wood Syndrome, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and Stargardt's disease, etc.
  • a major challenge in modern medical treatment has been the development of robust methods to either increase the immunogenicity of specific weakly-immunogenic foreign antigens, e.g., to elicit neutralizing antibodies, or to selectively overcome tolerance to self-antigens.
  • Important to the process of immunological discrimination between self and non-self is the concept of self-tolerance in which a mammal's immune system is “tolerized” to self-proteins in order to avoid autoimmune disease, primarily due to the absence or inactivation of self-reactive B- or T-cells.
  • Several strategies have been pursued to address these challenges, including the development of improved adjuvants and carriers, the introduction of strong T cell epitopes into antigens, lipid conjugation, and combination vaccines, etc.
  • the current invention permits the substitution (at particular desired locations) of one or more natural amino acids in a target epitope of a target moiety (e.g., a disease-related moiety) with one or more unnatural amino acids (UAA) in order to create an unnatural immunogen.
  • a target moiety e.g., a disease-related moiety
  • UAA unnatural amino acids
  • one or more specific unnatural amino acid residues can be added to a target epitope in a target moiety to create an unnatural immunogen.
  • Such unnatural amino acid substitutions and/or additions can create one or more immunogenic, optionally structurally conservative epitopes in the unnatural immunogen that are capable of eliciting a strong immune response, e.g., a T-cell response and/or B-cell response, to the corresponding region in the wild-type (wt) natural target protein (e.g., in a subject).
  • a strong immune response e.g., a T-cell response and/or B-cell response
  • cross-reactive antibodies produced in response to an unnatural immunogen can also be specific for regions of the corresponding natural target molecule which do not include an unnatural amino acid. See below.
  • the current invention can optionally be superior to previous attempts at breaking tolerance using monoclonal antibodies or chimeric drugs, which are problematic due to the frequent injections and large quantities or protein required.
  • the serum durability of antibodies produced in a subject through use of unnatural immogens of the invention can allow a low frequency of booster immunizations to be required during treatment.
  • B cells recognize free (soluble) antigen (e.g., an unnatural immunogen) in the blood or lymph via BCRs (B cell receptors) or membrane bound-immunoglobulins. Following the recognition of the antigen, a B cell will internalize it and display fragments of the antigen on its surface complexed with an MHC. Once activated, B cells can develop into memory B cells, which produce and secrete antibodies that can assist insuch actions as neutralizing a diease-associated target moiety from which the antigen (the unnatural immunogen) was derived (corresponds to) and/or in the destruction of infectious target agents on which the epitope is antibody accessible.
  • BCRs B cell receptors
  • MHC membrane bound-immunoglobulins
  • T cells e.g., CD4 + T cells, specific for an antigen (e.g., the unnatural immunogen), will bind to the MHC-complexed peptide fragments displayed by, e.g., B cells.
  • the T cells can then proliferate and release cytokines that stimulate immune cell proliferation and differentiation.
  • Some of these primed T cells develop into memory cells which confer immediate protection against, e.g., the target (e.g., disease-related) moiety from which the unnatural immunogen was derived, as well as the capacity to mount a more rapid and effective secondary immune response. This activity can be quantified in T lymphocyte proliferation assays (see Examples 1 and 2).
  • pNO 2 Phe p-nitrophenylalanine
  • FIG. 1A the phenylalanine derivative p-nitrophenylalanine
  • Nitroaryl groups have historically been used as highly immunogenic haptens (see Keinan, Ed., Catalytic Antibodies (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005), pages 1-28), likely due to the propensity of the electron deficient pi system to interact with the Tyr and Trp side chains common to antibody combining sites. Because of their close structural similarity, either Phe ⁇ pNO 2 Phe or Tyr ⁇ pNO 2 Phe mutations in a target moiety (e.g., disease-related moiety) of interest can produce an immunogen that generates a robust immune response that is cross-reactive with the native natural target moiety from which the immunogen is derived (corresponds to).
  • a target moiety e.g., disease-related moiety
  • mice with, e.g., a Tyr 86 ⁇ pNO 2 Phe mutant of murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇ (mTNF ⁇ ) generates a high titer antibody response to wild-type mTNF ⁇ (wt mTNF ⁇ ), which efficiently protects mice against a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge.
  • mTNF ⁇ murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇
  • mTNF ⁇ was chosen as the target protein to illustrate aspects of the current invention because it is a well-characterized cytokine involved in the regulation of infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune phenomena (see Vassalli, Annu Rev Immunol 10:411 (1992)); and the biological properties of mTNF ⁇ , including its expression, structure, function, and signaling mechanisms have been extensively studied.
  • mTNF ⁇ knockout mice are viable and show no apparent phenotypic abnormalities (see Pasparakis, supra), which suggests that the mice would survive a neutralizing immune response against TNF, thus allowing the vaccinated animals to be analyzed for anti-TNF ⁇ antibody production and biological activity.
  • TNF ⁇ -specific vaccine for clinical use would be desirable (Datum, supra; Spohn, et al., J Immunol 178:7450 (2007); Buanec, et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:19442 (2006); Capini, et al., Vaccine 22:3144 (2004)).
  • Example 2 provides further illustration of the broad applicability of the current invention by, e.g., characterizing the nature and durability of the polyclonal IgG antibody response against TNF ⁇ and by showing the generation of an antibody response against wild-type retinol binding protein 4, mRBP4, (thus showing the use of the invention with a self-protein that is unrelated to immune function).
  • Example 2 also shows that pNO 2 Phe-induced breakdown of self-tolerance generates an antibody response against multiple epitopes in WT mTNF ⁇ , which epitopes do not necessarily include the region in the natural TNF ⁇ corresponding to the region comprising the pNO 2 Phe residue in the unnatural immunogen TNF ⁇ .
  • immunization with an unnatural immunogen of the invention can advantageously result in immunoglobulin epitope spreading, whereby epitopes distinct from an inducing epitope become major targets of an ongoing immune response.
  • the broadening of immunity to epitopes throughout the disease-associated moiety from which the unnatural immunogen is derived is a phenomenon that is particularly sought after in vaccine design. Enhancing the immune system's ability to attack multiple targets on a disease-associated moiety can increase the efficiency and/or robustness of an immune response against the moiety.
  • the illustrations in the Examples below are not the only TNF ⁇ or RPB4 embodiments of the invention.
  • various embodiments can comprise one or more of ANY unnatural amino acid in the unnatural TNF ⁇ and RPB4 moieties.
  • the unnatural amino acids present in such unnatural immunogens can optionally be in any location within the immunogens.
  • the unnatural amino acids that replace the corresponding natural amino acids in the natural TNF ⁇ and RBP4 can be conservative amino acid replacements or can be non-conservative amino acid replacements.
  • the unnatural immunogenic TNF ⁇ and RBP4 can be constructed in any of a number of methods.
  • unnatural immunogens of the invention can produce a robust cross-reactive antibody response against a native target moiety(s) (e.g., a disease-related protein that does not comprise an unnatural amino acid) that is protective against a disease (or that can be used to treat a disease state) associated with the target moiety(s).
  • a native target moiety(s) e.g., a disease-related protein that does not comprise an unnatural amino acid
  • the invention can break immunological self-tolerance by the site-specific incorporation of an unnatural amino acid into a specific epitope of a target moiety of interest, e.g., a surface exposed epitope or a T-cell epitope in a disease related moiety).
  • a target moiety e.g., a disease related moiety
  • the unnatural immunogen also comprises epitopes 1, 2, and 3, which are derived from or correspond to (e.g., have identical sequences as) epitopes 1, 2, and 3 of the moiety.
  • epitope 2 of the unnatural immunogen includes an unnatural amino acid (indicated by the asterisk) which replaces the corresponding natural amino acid in the target moiety.
  • the presence of the unnatural amino acid in the unnatural immunogen can lead to the production of cross-reactive antibodies that can recognize different epitopes of the target moiety (epitope spreading).
  • cross reactive antibodies can be generated against epitopes 1 and 3 (which do not correspond to the epitope in the unnatural immunogen that comprises the unnatural amino acid) as well as to epitope 2 (which does correspond to the epitope in the unnatural immunogen having the unnatural amino acid).
  • Breaking immunological self-tolerance by site-specific incorporation of an unnatural amino acid into a specific epitope of a target moiety of interest to thus create an unnatural immunogen is applicable to a large number of endogenous moieties (e.g., proteins), including those associated with protein folding diseases or cancer (e.g., an amyloid-beta (1-42) peptide or prostate specific antigen, respectively).
  • endogenous moieties e.g., proteins
  • proteins e.g., proteins
  • proteins e.g., those associated with protein folding diseases or cancer (e.g., an amyloid-beta (1-42) peptide or prostate specific antigen, respectively.
  • this approach also allows generation of a strong antibody response against weakly immunogenic epitopes to result in neutralizing antibodies against foreign target moieties, e.g., foreign targets arising from viral, bacterial, fungal, prion, or parasitic infections.
  • an unnatural immunogen i.e., a molecule that corresponds to a target moiety, but which comprises one or more unnatural amino acids
  • an unnatural immunogen i.e., a molecule that corresponds to a target moiety, but which comprises one or more unnatural amino acids
  • an unnatural immunogen can be used to produce antibodies that cross-react with the natural target moiety, which antibodies are in turn administered as prophylactic/therapeutic treatments to a subject.
  • the invention comprises methods of producing an immunogenic (or immunological) response against a target moiety in a subject (e.g., a disease related moiety, a self-molecule of the subject, a molecule from a pathogen in the subject, or a molecule from a pathogen that is capable of being within the subject, etc.) by administering an unnatural immunogen that comprises one or more unnatural amino acid to the subject.
  • a subject e.g., a disease related moiety, a self-molecule of the subject, a molecule from a pathogen in the subject, or a molecule from a pathogen that is capable of being within the subject, etc.
  • an unnatural immunogen that comprises one or more unnatural amino acid
  • Antibodies against the immunogen which corresponds to a target moiety that does not comprise unnatural amino acids, are produced by the subject, which antibodies are cross-reactive against the particular target moiety.
  • the antibodies produced are not necessarily specific for the epitope on the target moiety that corresponds to the epitope that has the unnatural amino acid on the unnatural immunogen.
  • the methods of the invention can be used to break immunological tolerance in a subject in regard to the target (e.g., disease related) moiety.
  • the immunogenic unnatural antigens can be, once created, modified through other methods as well (e.g., chemical modification, etc.). Such indirect methods are typically used in conjunction with or in addition to direct incorporation methods such as orthogonal methods.
  • the immunogen used to produce the immunological response in the subject typically comprises an “unnatural” version of a target moiety within a subject or a target moiety that is capable of being within the subject (e.g., a moiety from a bacteria that could infect the subject, a moiety from a tumor that could arise in the subject, etc.).
  • the unnatural immunogen optionally comprises the same amino acid sequence/structure as the target moiety, except that one or more amino acid residue in the target moiety has been substituted with an unnatural amino acid (see Example sections below for additional illustration).
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise the amino acid sequence of the target moiety along with one or more additional unnatural amino acid residues.
  • the replacement and/or additional unnatural amino acid(s) does not change (or only slightly) changes the conformational structure of the unnatural immunogen as compared to the original target moiety.
  • the tertiary and/or quaternary structure of the unnatural immunogen and the target moiety can be the same, or can be very similar to one another.
  • Placement of the one or more unnatural amino acids in the unnatural immunogen is optionally chosen based on, e.g., whether placement in that location would change the conformation of the immunogen vs. the target moiety from which it is derived, whether the location allows the unnatural amino acid to be antibody accessible (e.g., can an antibody bind to the area comprising the unnatural amino acid), etc.
  • the unnatural amino acid that is incorporated into the unnatural immunogen can be a conservative or non-conservative replacement (as compared to the corresponding natural amino acid in the target moiety).
  • inventions are drawn to methods of prophylactically and/or therapeutically treating a subject by administering one or more unnatural immunogen and/or administering antibodies against one or more such unnatural immunogen that are cross-reactive with the corresponding natural target moiety.
  • the invention also includes embodiments comprising methods of producing a vaccine by identifying a target moiety (e.g., a disease-related moiety) that is at least putatively susceptible to treatment (e.g., TNF ⁇ ).
  • target moiety e.g., a disease-related moiety
  • TNF ⁇ a target moiety that is at least putatively susceptible to treatment
  • the methods also comprise providing an unnatural immunogen, i.e., a corresponding “unnatural” version of the target moiety and which comprises one or more unnatural amino acid, e.g., a replacement and/or additional unnatural amino acid.
  • the immunogen can comprise the same or nearly the same structural conformation as the target moiety such that administration of the unnatural immunogen to a subject elicits antibodies against the immunogen that are cross-reactive against the target moiety.
  • the invention also comprises vaccines produced by such methods.
  • the natural target moiety may or may not be present in the subject when the immunological response is created and/or when prophylactic treatment is administered, etc.
  • a target moiety herein is described as being in or within a subject, it should be appreciated that such also includes wherein the target moiety is capable of being within the subject.
  • the target moiety could be from a tumor that could arise in the subject, or from an infectious agent that could infect the subject, etc.
  • the target moiety can be a disease related moiety, an innate moiety, a foreign moiety, etc.
  • the target moiety can be non-immunogenic by itself or can be partially or weakly immunogenic, etc.
  • the target moieties that are foreign can be from any organism (e.g., bacteria, virus, etc.).
  • the target moieties that are self can be any self antigen (e.g., tumor associated, etc.).
  • the unnatural amino acid that is incorporated into the unnatural immunogen can be any unnatural amino acid, see below, and can be located anywhere within the immunogen.
  • the replacement unnatural amino acid in the immunogen can be a conservative or a non-conservative replacement.
  • the unnatural immunogens can be created through any of a number of direct incorporation methods (e.g., orthogonal translation, solid-phase synthesis, etc.). Typical embodiments herein do not create unnatural immunogens though indirect incorporation methods such as post-translational modification or chemical modification (but such can optionally be used in conjunction with or in addition to direct incorporation methods such as orthogonal translation or can be used after direct incorporation methods such as orthogonal translation).
  • direct incorporation methods e.g., orthogonal translation, solid-phase synthesis, etc.
  • indirect incorporation methods such as post-translational modification or chemical modification (but such can optionally be used in conjunction with or in addition to direct incorporation methods such as orthogonal translation or can be used after direct incorporation methods such as orthogonal translation).
  • the methods and compositions of the invention can be used to prophylactically and/or therapeutically treat a wide variety of medical conditions/disease states.
  • the invention can be used in the treatment of immune disorders.
  • immune disorders can include, but are not limited to: autoimmune diseases (e.g., diabetes mellitus, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, multiple sclerosis (e.g., involving MS associated antigens such as TRAIL, CD95/CD95, etc.), encephalomyelitis, myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE), autoimmune thyroiditis, dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, eczematous dermatitis, psoriasis, Sjogren's Syndrome, Crohn's disease, aphthous ulcer, ulceris, conjunctivitis, keratoconjunctiv
  • the invention can also treat disease states of non-autoimmune/non-infectious pathogen origin such as diabetes/cardiovascular disease (e.g., involving RBP4), or of idiopathic origin such as Alzheimer's Disease (e.g., wherein the disease-related moiety can comprise, e.g., amyloid beta40, amyloid beta42, or the like).
  • non-autoimmune/non-infectious pathogen origin such as diabetes/cardiovascular disease (e.g., involving RBP4)
  • idiopathic origin such as Alzheimer's Disease (e.g., wherein the disease-related moiety can comprise, e.g., amyloid beta40, amyloid beta42, or the like).
  • Various embodiments of the methods and compositions of the invention also can be used to prophylactically and/or therapeutically treat disease states associated with TNF ⁇ activity, e.g., cachexia, septic shock, bactericidal granulomas, adult respiratory distress syndrome, silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis, autoimmune disorder, multiple organ failure, multiple sclerosis, cardiac dysfunction, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, insulin resistance, and inflammatory bowel disease, etc.
  • Other embodiments of the invention can be used to prophylactically and/or therapeutically treat disease states associated with RBP4 activity, e.g., Matthew Wood Syndrome, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and Stargardt's disease, etc.
  • the methods and compositions of the invention can be used to prophylactically and/or therapeutically treat various cancers (e.g., cancer of the breast, prostate, ovaries, lungs, skin, etc.).
  • Such treatment can include, but is not limited to treatment of those cancers for which there are tumor-associated antigens.
  • Tumor-associated antigens are known for numerous cancers, e.g., breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.
  • Tumor-associated antigens can include, but are not limited to: carcino embryonic antigen (CEA) from colon and other cancers, MAGE, BAGE, RAGE, and NY-ESO (non-mutated antigens expressed in the immune-privileged areas of the testes and in a variety of tumor cells); lineage-specific tumor antigens such as the melanocyte-melanoma lineage antigens MART-1/Melan-A, gp100, gp75, mda-7, tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein, or the prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which are antigens expressed in normal and neoplastic cells derived from the same tissue; epitope proteins/peptides derived from genes mutated in tumor cells or genes transcribed at different levels in tumor compared to normal cells, such as mutated ras, bcr/ab1 rearrangement, Her2/neu, mutated
  • the invention can be used to treat ovarian cancer and/or the target disease-related moiety can comprise, e.g., an ovarian tumor-associated antigen, CA19-9, p53, OCAA, HOXB7, Cal25, etc.
  • the invention can be used to treat prostate cancer and/or the target disease-related moiety can comprise, e.g., a prostate tumor associated antigen, PSA, PSMA, STEAP, PCTA-1, etc.
  • Other embodiments herein comprise treatment of breast cancer and/or the target disease-related moiety can comprise, e.g., CA15-3, CA27-29, Her2/neu, etc.
  • tumor associated antigens that can be utilized in the current invention, can be found in, e.g., “Tumor-Antigens Recognized By T-Lymphocytes,” Boon, et al., Annual Review Of Immunology 12:337-365, 1994; and “A listing of human tumor antigens recognized by T cells,” Renkvist, et al., Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy 50:(1) 3-15 Mar. 2001.
  • the invention can be used to treat diseases, disorders, etc. involving self-antigens such as, but not limited to, e.g., EGF, EGFR, HER-1, CXCR4, or any of the G protein-coupled receptors (GCPR).
  • self-antigens such as, but not limited to, e.g., EGF, EGFR, HER-1, CXCR4, or any of the G protein-coupled receptors (GCPR).
  • GCPR G protein-coupled receptors
  • the invention comprises treatment for HIV infection, wherein the unnatural antigen can correspond to a target disease-related moiety associated with HIV/AIDS, e.g., gp120, gp41, gp160, etc.
  • exemplary HIV moieties include, but are not limited to: gag, pol, env, tat, nef, and rev.
  • the invention can be used to treat viral infection and the unnatural immunogen can correspond to a target disease-related moiety associated with a virus, e.g., an adenovirus, an alphavirus, a calicivirus (e.g., a calicivirus capsid antigen), a coronavirus, a CMV (e.g., pp 65), a distemper virus, an Ebola virus, an enterovirus, an EBV (e.g., gp340 or nucleoantigen 3A), a flavivirus such as Hep C (e.g., core antigen), a hepadnavirus such as Hep B (e.g., a hepatitis B core or surface antigen, HbsAg, or envelope Ag pre S2, or pre S1 ag), a hepatitis delta agent, a Hep E or F virus, a Hepatitis A virus (e.g., VP1), a GBV-
  • the invention can be used to treat bacterial or mycobacterial infection and the unnatural immunogen can be created to correspond to a target disease-related moiety associated with a bacterium or a Mycobacterium , e.g., an Actinomyces , a Bacillus , a Bacteroides , a Bordetella (e.g., B. pertussis surface protein), a Bartonella , a Borrelia (e.g., B. burgdorferi OspA), a Brucella (e.g., Brucella surface protein), a Campylobacter , a Capnocytophaga , a Chlamydia (e.g., C.
  • a target disease-related moiety associated with a bacterium or a Mycobacterium e.g., an Actinomyces , a Bacillus , a Bacteroides , a Bordetella (e.g., B. pertussis
  • trachomatis surface protein a Clostridium , a Corynebacterium , a Coxiella , a Dermatophilus , an Enterococcus , an Ehrlichia , an Escherichia , a Francisella , a Fusobacterium , a Haemobartonella , a Haemophilus (e.g., H.
  • influenzae type b outer membrane protein a Helicobacter , a Klebsiella , an L-form bacteria, a Leptospira , a Listeria (e.g., a surface protein), a Mycobacteria such as for tuberculosis (e.g., Mycobacteria lipoarabinomannan, Mycobacteria mAPG, ESAT-6, Ag85B), a Mycoplasma , a Neisseria (e.g., N.
  • tuberculosis e.g., Mycobacteria lipoarabinomannan, Mycobacteria mAPG, ESAT-6, Ag85B
  • Mycoplasma a Neisseria (e.g., N.
  • meningitides class 1 outer protein meningitides class 1 outer protein
  • a Neorickettsia a Nocardia , a Pasteurella , a Peptococcus , a Peptostreptococcus , a Pneumococcus , a Proteus , a Pseudomonas , a Rickettsia , a Rochalimaea , a Salmonella , a Shigella , a Staphylococcus (e.g., staphylococcus GP-1), a Streptococcus (e.g., S. pyogenes M proteins or S.
  • pneumoniae capsular polysaccharides or Streptococcus surface protein Ag a Treponema , a Vibrio (e.g., Vibrio cholerae TcpA pilin subunit), and a Yersinia (e.g., Y. pestis F1 and V antigens).
  • fungus e.g., an Absidia , an Acremonium , ab Alternaria , an Aspergillus , a Basidiobolus , a Bipolaris , a Blastomyces , a Candida , a Coccidioides , a Conidiobolus , a Cryptococcus , a Curvalaria , an Epidermophyton , an Exophiala , a Geotrichum , a Histoplasma , a Madurella , a Malassezia , a Microsporum , a Moniliella , a Mortierella , a Mucor , a Paecilomyces , a Penicillium , a Phialemonium , a Phialophora , a Pro
  • a target disease-related moiety associated with a fungus e.g., an Absidia , an Acremonium , ab Alternaria , an Asper
  • Some embodiments herein can comprise methods and compositions, etc., for treatment of a protozoan infection and the unnatural immunogens created can correspond to a target disease-related moiety associated with a protozoan parasite, e.g., a Babesia , a Balantidium , a Besnoitia , a Cryptosporidium , an Eimeria , an Encephalitozoon , an Entamoeba , a Giardia , a Hammondia , a Hepatozoon , an Isospora , a Leishmania (e.g., leishmania major surface glycoprotein such as gp63), a Microsporidia , a Neospora , a Nosema , a Pentatrichomonas , a Plasmodium (e.g., P.
  • a target disease-related moiety associated with a protozoan parasite e.g., a Bab
  • PfCSP falciparum circumsporozoite
  • PfSSP2 sporozoite surface protein 2
  • PfLSA1 c-term carboxyl terminus of liver state antigen 1
  • PfExp-1 exported protein 1
  • Pfs 48/45 a Pfs 28, a Pfs 25, a Pfs 230
  • Pneumocystis a Sarcocystis
  • Schistosoma a Theileria
  • Toxoplasma a Toxoplasma
  • Trypanosoma Trypanosoma.
  • Still other embodiments herein can comprise methods and compositions for treatment of a helminth infection and the unnatural immunogens created can correspond to a target disease-related moiety associated with a helminth parasite, e.g., an Acanthocheilonema , an Aelurostrongylus , an Ancylostoma , an Angiostrongylus , an Ascaris , a Brugia , a Bunostomum , a Capillaria , a Chabertia , a Cooperia , a Crenosoma , a Dictyocaulus , a Dioctophyme , a Dipetalonema , a Diphyllobothrium , a Diplydium , a Dirofilaria , a Dracunculus , an Enterobius , a Filaroides , a Haemonchus , a Lagochilascaris , a
  • inventions can comprise methods and compositions for treatment of an ectoparasite infection and the unnatural immunogens created can correspond to a target disease-related moiety associated with an ectoparasite.
  • ectoparasite can include, e.g., fleas; ticks, including hard ticks and soft ticks; flies, such as midges, mosquitoes, sand flies, black flies, horse flies, horn flies, deer flies, tsetse flies, stable flies, myiasis-causing flies and biting gnats; ants; spiders, lice; mites; and true bugs, such as bed bugs and kissing bugs.
  • the immunogen can correspond to a target moiety of a pollen or an allergen.
  • an unnatural amino acid refers to any amino acid, modified amino acid, or amino acid analogue other than selenocysteine and/or pyrrolysine and the following twenty canonical genetically encoded alpha-amino acids: alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine.
  • the one or more unnatural amino acid that is incorporated into the unnatural immunogen can be any unnatural amino acid.
  • unnatural amino acids herein should not necessarily be taken as limiting on the invention.
  • a wide variety of unnatural amino acids have been incorporated into proteins by coding for them in vivo, e.g., using translation systems that comprise orthogonal elements. See, e.g., Liu, et al. (2007) “Genetic incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins in mammalian cells” Nat Methods 4:239-244; Wang, et al.
  • unnatural amino acids can be incorporated into immunogens in vitro, e.g., using biosynthetic methods in which a suppressor tRNA is chemically acylated with a desired unnatural amino acid and is added to an in vitro extract capable of supporting immunogen biosynthesis.
  • biosynthetic methods in which a suppressor tRNA is chemically acylated with a desired unnatural amino acid and is added to an in vitro extract capable of supporting immunogen biosynthesis.
  • in vitro synthetic methods see, e.g., V. W. Cornish, D. Mendel and P. G. Schultz, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 1995, 34:621 (1995); C. J. Noren, S. J. Anthony-Cahill, M. C. Griffith, P. G.
  • post-translation and chemical modifications are typically done in conjunction with, or in addition to, incorporation of one or more unnatural amino acids during synthesis of a molecule (e.g., direct incorporation such as orthogonal translation, solid-phase synthesis, etc.).
  • post-translational addition or chemical modification of amino acids are typically done, if at all, only on molecules already having unnatural amino acids that were added during the synthesis of the molecule. Further information on non-orthogonal incorporation of unnatural amino acids into immunogens is given below.
  • An unnatural amino acid is typically any structure having Formula I wherein the R group is any substituent other than one used in the twenty natural amino acids. See, e.g., Biochemistry by L. Stryer, 3 rd ed. 1988, Freeman and Company, New York, for structures of the twenty natural amino acids. Note that, the unnatural amino acids of the invention, e.g., used to enhance an immunological response, can be naturally occurring compounds other than the twenty alpha-amino acids above.
  • the unnatural amino acids used herein typically differ from the natural amino acids in side chain, the unnatural amino acids form amide bonds with other amino acids, e.g., natural or unnatural, in the same manner in which they are formed in naturally occurring proteins. However, the unnatural amino acids have side chain groups that distinguish them from the natural amino acids.
  • R in Formula I optionally comprises an alkyl-, aryl-, acyl-, hydrazine, cyano-, halo-, hydrazide, alkenyl, ether, borate, boronate, phospho, phosphono, phosphine, enone, imine, ester, hydroxylamine, amine, and the like, or any combination thereof.
  • unnatural amino acids of interest include, but are not limited to, amino acids comprising a photoactivatable cross-linker, spin-labeled amino acids, fluorescent amino acids, metal binding amino acids, metal-containing amino acids, radioactive amino acids, amino acids with novel functional groups, amino acids that covalently or noncovalently interact with other molecules, photocaged and/or photoisomerizable amino acids, biotin or biotin-analogue containing amino acids, keto containing amino acids, glycosylated amino acids, a saccharide moiety attached to the amino acid side chain, amino acids comprising polyethylene glycol or polyether, heavy atom substituted amino acids, chemically cleavable or photocleavable amino acids, amino acids with an elongated side chain as compared to natural amino acids (e.g., polyethers or long chain hydrocarbons, e.g., greater than about 5, greater than about 10 carbons, etc.), carbon-linked sugar-containing amino acids, amino thioacid containing amino acids, and amino acids containing one
  • the invention can utilize unnatural amino acids having the general structure illustrated by Formula IV below:
  • An unnatural amino acid having this structure is typically any structure where R 1 is a substituent used in one of the twenty natural amino acids (e.g., tyrosine or phenylalanine) and R 2 is a substituent such that R2—R1 together is other than a side chain of any of the 20 canonical natural amino acids.
  • R 1 is a substituent used in one of the twenty natural amino acids (e.g., tyrosine or phenylalanine) and R 2 is a substituent such that R2—R1 together is other than a side chain of any of the 20 canonical natural amino acids.
  • R 1 is a substituent used in one of the twenty natural amino acids (e.g., tyrosine or phenylalanine)
  • R 2 is a substituent such that R2—R1 together is other than a side chain of any of the 20 canonical natural amino acids.
  • this type of unnatural amino acid can be viewed as a natural amino acid derivative.
  • Unnatural amino acids can also optionally comprise modified backbone structures, e.g., as illustrated by the structures of Formula II and III:
  • Z typically comprises OH, NH 2 , SH, NH—R′, or S—R′;
  • X and Y which can be the same or different, typically comprise S or O, and R and R′, which are optionally the same or different, are typically any substituent other than H (where R is of the L configuration if R′ is H).
  • unnatural amino acids herein can optionally comprise substitutions in the amino or carboxyl group as illustrated by Formulas II and III.
  • Unnatural amino acids of this type include, but are not limited to, ⁇ -hydroxy acids, ⁇ -thioacids ⁇ -aminothiocarboxylates, e.g., with side chains corresponding to the common twenty natural amino acids or unnatural side chains.
  • substitutions at the ⁇ -carbon optionally include L, D, or ⁇ - ⁇ -disubstituted amino acids such as D-glutamate, D-alanine, D-methyl-O-tyrosine, aminobutyric acid, and the like.
  • Other structural alternatives include cyclic amino acids, such as proline analogues as well as 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 membered ring proline analogues, ⁇ and ⁇ amino acids such as substituted ⁇ -alanine and ⁇ -amino butyric acid.
  • the invention utilizes unnatural amino acids in the L-configuration. However, it is not intended that the invention be limited to the use of L-configuration unnatural amino acids. It is contemplated that the D-enantiomers of these unnatural amino acids also find use with the invention.
  • tyrosine analogs which include para-substituted tyrosines, ortho-substituted tyrosines, and meta substituted tyrosines, wherein the substituted tyrosine comprises an alkynyl group, acetyl group, a benzoyl group, an amino group, a hydrazine, an hydroxyamine, a thiol group, a carboxy group, an isopropyl group, a methyl group, a C 6 -C 20 straight chain or branched hydrocarbon, a saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon, an O-methyl group, a polyether group, a nitro group, or the like.
  • Glutamine analogs of the invention include, but are not limited to, ⁇ -hydroxy derivatives, ⁇ -substituted derivatives, cyclic derivatives, and amide substituted glutamine derivatives.
  • Example phenylalanine analogs include, but are not limited to, para-substituted phenylalanines, ortho-substituted phenyalanines, and meta-substituted phenylalanines, wherein the substituent comprises an alkynyl group, a hydroxy group, a methoxy group, a methyl group, an allyl group, an aldehyde, a nitro, a thiol group, or keto group, or the like.
  • unnatural amino acids include, but are not limited to, p-ethylthiocarbonyl-L-phenylalanine, p-(3-oxobutanoyl)-L-phenylalanine, 1,5-dansyl-alanine, 7-amino-coumarin amino acid, 7-hydroxy-coumarin amino acid, nitrobenzyl-serine, 0-(2-nitrobenzyl)-L-tyrosine, p-carboxymethyl-L-phenylalanine, p-cyano-L-phenylalanine, m-cyano-L-phenylalanine, biphenylalanine, 3-amino-L-tyrosine, bipyridyl alanine, p-(2-amino-1-hydroxyethyl)-L-phenylalanine, p-isopropylthiocarbonyl-L-phenylalanine, 3-nitro-L-tyrosine and p-nitro-L
  • unnatural amino acids that can be included in various embodiments of the invention include, e.g., p-nitrophenylalanine; an o-nitrophenylalanine; an m-nitrophenylalanine; a p-boronyl Phe; an o-boronyl Phe; an m-boronyl Phe; a p-amino Phe; an o-amino Phe; an m-amino Phe; a p-acyl Phe; an o-acyl Phe; an m-acyl Phe; a p-OMe Phe; an o-OMe Phe; an m-OMe Phe; a p-sulfo Phe; an o-sulfo Phe; an m-sulfo Phe; a 5-nitro His; a 3-nitro Tyr; a 2-nitro Tyr; a nitro substituted Leu; a nitro substituted His; a nitro substituted Ile;
  • Yet other embodiments can comprise unnatural amino acids such as an aliphatic, aryl or heterocycle substituted boronic acid, a p-boronophenylalanine, an o-boronophenylalanine, or an m-boronophenylalanine.
  • unnatural amino acids such as an aliphatic, aryl or heterocycle substituted boronic acid, a p-boronophenylalanine, an o-boronophenylalanine, or an m-boronophenylalanine.
  • the unnatural immunogen comprises one or more of the 20 naturally occurring canonical amino acids that has been glycosylated, nitroaryl modified, nitrated, alkylated, acetylated, oxidized, sulfated, or phosphorylated (e.g., glycosylated, nitroaryl modified, nitrated, alkylated, acetylated, oxidized, sulfated, or phosphorylated by a process other than post-translational modification or by a process other than chemical modification).
  • the structures of a variety of unnatural amino acids that can be incorporated using orthogonal translation systems are known. See the references cited herein, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • Unnatural amino acid uptake by a cell is one issue that is typically considered when designing and selecting unnatural amino acids, e.g., for incorporation into an immunogen via genetically coding orthogonal pairs (an ORS that charges an OtRNA that recognizes a selector codon).
  • an ORS that charges an OtRNA that recognizes a selector codon
  • the high charge density of ⁇ -amino acids may limit uptake.
  • Natural amino acids are taken up into the cell via a collection of protein-based transport systems often displaying varying degrees of amino acid specificity. A rapid screen can be done which assesses which unnatural amino acids are taken up by cells. See, e.g., the toxicity assays in, e.g., International Publication WO 2004/058946, entitled “PROTEIN ARRAYS,” filed on Dec.
  • biosynthetic pathways already exist in cells for the production of amino acids and other compounds. While a biosynthetic method for a particular unnatural amino acid may not exist in nature, e.g., in a cell, various embodiments of the invention provide such methods.
  • biosynthetic pathways for unnatural amino acids are optionally generated in a host cell by adding new enzymes or modifying existing host cell pathways. Additional new enzymes are optionally naturally occurring enzymes or artificially evolved enzymes.
  • the biosynthesis of p-aminophenylalanine relies on the addition of a combination of known enzymes from other organisms.
  • the genes for these enzymes can be introduced into a cell by transforming the cell with a plasmid comprising the genes.
  • the genes when expressed in the cell, provide an enzymatic pathway to synthesize the desired compound.
  • Examples of the types of enzymes optionally added can be found, e.g., in Genbank.
  • Artificially evolved enzymes are also optionally added into a cell in the same manner. In this manner, the cellular machinery and resources of a cell are manipulated to produce unnatural amino acids.
  • any of a variety of methods can be used for producing novel enzymes for use in biosynthetic pathways, or for evolution of existing pathways, for the production of unnatural amino acids, in vitro or in vivo.
  • Many available methods of evolving enzymes and other biosynthetic pathway components can be applied to the present invention to produce unnatural amino acids (or, indeed, to evolve synthetases to have new substrate specificities or other activities of interest).
  • DNA shuffling is optionally used to develop novel enzymes and/or pathways of such enzymes for the production of unnatural amino acids (or production of new synthetases), in vitro or in vivo.
  • This approach can also be used to generate a library of enzyme or other pathway variants which can serve as substrates for one or more in vitro or in vivo recombination methods. See also, Ostermeier, et al. (1999) “Combinatorial Protein Engineering by Incremental Truncation,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96: 3562-67, and Ostermeier, et al. (1999), “Incremental Truncation as a Strategy in the Engineering of Novel Biocatalysts,” Biological and Medicinal Chemistry, 7: 2139-44.
  • Another approach optionally used herein uses exponential ensemble mutagenesis to produce libraries of enzyme or other pathway variants that are, e.g., selected for an ability to catalyze a biosynthetic reaction relevant to producing an unnatural amino acid (or a new synthetase).
  • small groups of residues in a sequence of interest are randomized in parallel to identify, at each altered position, amino acids which lead to functional proteins. Examples of such procedures, which can be adapted to the present invention to produce new enzymes for the production of unnatural amino acids (or new synthetases) are found in Delegrave and Youvan (1993) Biotechnology Research 11:1548-1552.
  • random or semi-random mutagenesis using doped or degenerate oligonucleotides for enzyme and/or pathway component engineering can be used, e.g., by using the general mutagenesis methods of, e.g., Arkin and Youvan (1992) “Optimizing nucleotide mixtures to encode specific subsets of amino acids for semi-random mutagenesis” Biotechnology 10:297-300; or Reidhaar-Olson, et al. (1991) “Random mutagenesis of protein sequences using oligonucleotide cassettes,” Methods Enzymol. 208:564-86.
  • non-stochastic mutagenesis which uses polynucleotide reassembly and site-saturation mutagenesis can be used to produce enzymes and/or pathway components, which can then be screened for an ability to perform one or more synthetase or biosynthetic pathway function (e.g., for the production of unnatural amino acids in vivo). See, e.g., Short “NON-STOCHASTIC GENERATION OF GENETIC VACCINES AND ENZYMES” WO 00/46344.
  • An alternative to such mutational methods involves recombining entire genomes of organisms and selecting resulting progeny for particular pathway functions (often referred to as “whole genome shuffling”).
  • This approach can be applied to various embodiments of the present invention, e.g., by genomic recombination and selection of an organism (e.g., an E. coli or other cell) for an ability to produce an unnatural amino acid (or intermediate thereof).
  • an organism e.g., an E. coli or other cell
  • methods taught in the following publications can be applied to pathway design for the evolution of existing and/or new pathways in cells to produce unnatural amino acids in vivo: Patnaik, et al.
  • the unnatural amino acid produced with an engineered biosynthetic pathway is produced in a concentration sufficient for efficient protein biosynthesis, e.g., a natural cellular amount, but not to such a degree as to significantly affect the concentration of other cellular amino acids or to exhaust cellular resources.
  • concentrations produced in vivo in this manner are about 10 mM to about 0.05 mM.
  • the unnatural immunogen used herein to produce the immunological response in the subject typically comprises an “unnatural” version of a target (e.g., disease-related) moiety within a subject or a target moiety that is capable of being within the subject (e.g., a moiety from a bacteria that could infect the subject, a moiety from a tumor that could arise in the subject, etc.).
  • the unnatural immunogen optionally comprises the same amino acid sequence/structure as the target moiety, except that one or more amino acid residues in the target moiety have been substituted with an unnatural amino acid (see Examples section below for illustration).
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise the same amino acid sequence as the target moiety but along with one or more additional unnatural amino acid residues.
  • the unnatural immunogens of the invention can comprise, e.g., 10 or more unnatural amino acids, 5-10 unnatural amino acids, 5 or fewer unnatural amino acids, or 2 or fewer unnatural amino acids, etc.
  • An unnatural immunogen can comprise, e.g., 10% or more, 5-10%, 5% or less, 2% or less, or 1% or less percentage of unnatural amino acids as compared to total amino acids.
  • the unnatural immunogens herein can comprise one or more of a number of different unnatural amino acids.
  • an unnatural amino acid can be present at either the C or N terminus of an immunogen, or the unnatural amino acid can be present anywhere internally in the primary amino acid sequence of the immunogen. See, Examples section below. Placement of the unnatural amino acid(s) (and also choice of the particular unnatural amino acid) can optionally be guided by a number of considerations. For example, the location/choice of the unnatural amino acid can optionally not significantly alter the structural conformation of the immunogen vs. the natural target protein moiety from which it is derived (to which it corresponds).
  • the structural conformation of the resulting unnatural immunogen can optionally still closely match that of the corresponding natural target moiety, such that antibody cross-reactivity occurs. Therefore, in some embodiments herein, the particular unnatural amino acid and its particular location within an immunogen can be chosen to minimize structural (e.g., tertiary/quaternary) changes to the immunogen as compared to the natural target moiety. In some embodiments, the choice of unnatural amino acid and the choice of its placement can also be influenced by whether such choice/placement will help in decreasing infectivity, cytotoxicity, etc.
  • the unnatural amino acid(s) incorporated into the immunogen can optionally be structurally distinct from the natural amino acid(s) they replace.
  • the particular unnatural amino acid is a nonconservative alternative to the natural amino acid in the target moiety. See Examples below where a Lys residue in a target moiety was replaced with a pNO 2 Phe in the unnatural immunogen.
  • the unnatural amino acid is a conservative alternative to the natural amino acid.
  • the location of the unnatural amino acid in the immunogen can be influenced by antibody accessibility and/or its ability to generate a serum antibody, B-cell, and/or T-cell response.
  • the unnatural amino acid can be antibody accessible, e.g., surface exposed.
  • the unnatural amino acid can be any unnatural amino acid.
  • unnatural amino acids that can be used in the invention have side chain groups that distinguish them from the natural amino acids, although unnatural amino acids can be naturally occurring compounds other than the twenty proteinogenic alpha-amino acids.
  • the unnatural amino acids finding use with the invention can include an O-methyl-L-tyrosine, an L-3-(2-naphthyl)alanine, a 3-methyl-phenylalanine, an O-4-allyl-L-tyrosine, a 4-propyl-L-tyrosine, a tri-O-acetyl-GlcNAcb-serine, an L-Dopa, a fluorinated phenylalanine, an isopropyl-L-phenylalanine, a p-azido-L-phenylalanine, a p-acyl-L-phenylalanine, a p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine, an L-phosphoserine, a phosphonoserine, a phosphonotyrosine, a p-iodo-phenylalanine, a p-bromophenylalanine, a p-amino-L
  • the unnatural immunogens herein can comprise one or more of: p-nitrophenylalanine; an o-nitrophenylalanine; an m-nitrophenylalanine; a p-boronyl Phe; an o-boronyl Phe; an m-boronyl Phe; a p-amino Phe; an o-amino Phe; an m-amino Phe; a p-acyl Phe; an o-acyl Phe; an m-acyl Phe; a p-OMe Phe; an o-OMe Phe; an m-OMe Phe; a p-sulfo Phe; an o-sulfo Phe; an m-sulfo Phe; a 5-nitro His; a 3-nitro Tyr; a 2-nitro Tyr; a nitro substituted Leu; a nitro substituted His
  • the unnatural immunogens of the invention can be based on numerous target moieties and can include not only polypeptides/proteins, but also polypeptides/proteins associated with carbohydrates, lipids, haptens and/or other non-proteinaceous molecules.
  • An immunogen of the invention can include, but is not limited to, any of the target (e.g., disease-related) moieties described herein.
  • the unnatural immunogen comprises unnatural TNF ⁇ and can comprise a highly immunogenic (E. Keinan, Ed. Catalytic Antibodies (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005) pp. 1-28), structurally conservative, antibody accessible p-nitrophenylalanine (pNO 2 Phe, FIG.
  • pNO 2 Phe 86 TNF ⁇ e.g., pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , or pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • the substitution mutation permits the unnatural mTNF ⁇ to maintain a tertiary and quaternary protein structure that is substantially similar to that of the natural mTNF ⁇ , thus increasing the probability that neutralizing antibodies produced against the unnatural mTNF ⁇ can cross react with corresponding epitopes on the wt mTNF ⁇ .
  • the replacement of and/or addition of an unnatural amino acid optionally does not change (or does not significantly change) the conformational structure of the unnatural mTNF ⁇ as compared to the endogenous mTNF ⁇ .
  • Unnatural hTNF ⁇ that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a human subject include a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , or a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • TNF ⁇ TNF ⁇ -associated disease
  • a subject in whom the immunological response is created and/or to whom the prophylactic treatment is administered, etc. may not exhibit at serum TNF ⁇ levels that represent a disease state.
  • the antibodies, and/or the unnatural immunogens of the invention can be administered both to individuals who do exhibit a TNF ⁇ -associated disease as well as those who do not.
  • the unnatural immunogen can comprise an unnatural RBP4, e.g., to treat and/or prevent RBP4-associated disease states.
  • Any natural RBP4 can be substituted with one or more unnatural amino acid to produce an unnatural RBP4.
  • the substitution need not (but can) replace the natural amino acid with a structurally conservative unnatural amino acid.
  • one or more additional unnatural amino acids can be added to an RBP4 polypeptide (rather than “replace” natural amino acids within it) to produce an unnatural RBP4.
  • an unnatural RBP4 can optionally comprise a structure that is substantially similar to the natural RBP4, thus increasing the probability that neutralizing antibodies produced against the unnatural RBP4 can cross react with corresponding epitopes on the natural RBP4 (whether or not such epitopes in the target RBP4 correspond to the epitope(s) in the unnatural RBP4 that have an unnatural amino acid).
  • any unnatural amino acid in an unnatural immunogen that is used to replace a natural amino acid in a target moiety does not need to be a conservative substitution. See Examples below.
  • Unnatural RBP4s that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a subject include a pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 and a pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4 as well as their corresponding human counterparts.
  • the unnatural immunogens of the invention can be constructed through a variety of methods, typically direct incorporation methods.
  • other methods can also optionally be used to create the unnatural immunogens to be administered to a subject, e.g., to produce an immunological response against the target moiety to which the immunogen corresponds, or to produce the unnatural immunogens used in the creation of cross-reactive antibodies that are to be administered to a subject to, e.g., neutralize a target moiety.
  • the unnatural amino acid is added to the unnatural immunogen during construction of the immunogen (e.g., during the construction of the immunogen through orthogonal translation, in vitro synthesis or chemo-synthetic methods, etc.) rather than through post-translational modification or chemical modification of a natural amino acid in the molecule after it has been synthesized (although such methods can optionally be used in combination with or in addition to direct incorporation approaches). Therefore, while particular methods of constructing molecules that comprise unnatural amino acids are detailed herein, e.g., orthogonal translation, they such should not necessarily be taken as limiting. Other methods of constructing molecules having unnatural amino acids that include non-post-translational and non-chemical modification are also included herein in the many embodiments.
  • genetic incorporation of unnatural amino acids into immunogens can, in some embodiments, offer benefits over generation of unnatural immunogens through solid-phase peptide synthesis or other similar in vitro methods.
  • the genetic incorporation of unnatural amino acids into immunogens in vivo uses the biosynthetic machinery of living cells to synthesize the unnatural immunogen.
  • Such in vivo production can produce an accurate functional immunogen (or any other moiety) similar to the native (natural) target moiety, but with the added active/functional groups introduced via the unnatural amino acids.
  • unnatural immunogens used in the invention to produce an immunological response against a natural target moiety are typically constructed through orthogonal tRNA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase systems.
  • an understanding of the novel compositions and methods of the present invention is further developed through an understanding of the activities associated with orthogonal tRNA and orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pairs.
  • new orthogonal pairs comprising an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and a suitable tRNA are needed that can function efficiently in the host translational machinery, but that are “orthogonal” to the translation system at issue.
  • the orthogonal moieties function independently of the synthetases and tRNAs endogenous to the translation system. Desired characteristics of the orthogonal pair include tRNA that decode or recognize only a specific codon, such as a selector codon, e.g., an amber stop codon, that is not decoded by any endogenous tRNA, and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase that preferentially aminoacylates, or “charges” its cognate tRNA with only one specific unnatural amino acid.
  • the O-tRNA is also not typically aminoacylated, or is poorly aminoacylated, i.e., charged, by endogenous synthetases. For example, in an E.
  • an orthogonal pair will include an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase that does not cross-react with any of the endogenous tRNA, of which there are 40 endogenous in E. coli , and an orthogonal tRNA that is not aminoacylated by any of the endogenous synthetases, of which there are 21 in E. coli.
  • orthogonal translation systems that are suitable for making proteins that comprise one or more unnatural amino acid in the invention are known in the art, as are the general methods for producing orthogonal translation systems.
  • International Publication Numbers WO 2002/086075, entitled “METHODS AND COMPOSITION FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ORTHOGONAL tRNA-AMINOACYL-tRNA SYNTHETASE PAIRS”; WO 2002/085923, entitled “IN VIVO INCORPORATION OF UNNATURAL AMINO ACIDS”; WO 2004/094593, entitled “EXPANDING THE EUKARYOTIC GENETIC CODE”; WO 2005/019415, filed Jul.
  • an unnatural amino acid refers to any amino acid, modified amino acid, or amino acid analogue that is other than selenocysteine and/or pyrrolysine and the twenty genetically encoded alpha-amino acids. See, e.g., Biochemistry by L. Stryer, 3rd ed. 1988, Freeman and Company, New York, for structures of the twenty natural amino acids.
  • the unnatural amino acid is any immunogenic amino acid (e.g., an immunogenic analogue of a common amino acid).
  • Unnatural amino acids of the invention have side chain groups that distinguish them from the natural amino acids, although unnatural amino acids can be naturally occurring compounds other than the twenty proteinogenic alpha-amino acids.
  • Non-limiting examples of unnatural amino acids that can be used in the immogens of the invention include an O-methyl-L-tyrosine, an L-3-(2-naphthyl)alanine, a 3-methyl-phenylalanine, an O-4-allyl-L-tyrosine, a 4-propyl-L-tyrosine, a tri-O-acetyl-GlcNAcb-serine, an L-Dopa, a fluorinated phenylalanine, an isopropyl-L-phenylalanine, a p-azido-L-phenylalanine, a p-acyl-L-phenylalanine, a p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine, an L-phosphoserine, a phosphonoserine, a phosphonotyrosine, a p-iodo-phenylalanine, a p-bromophen ylalan
  • the unnatural immunogens herein can comprise one or more of: p-nitrophenylalanine; an o-nitrophenylalanine; an m-nitrophenylalanine; a p-boronyl Phe; an o-boronyl Phe; an m-boronyl Phe; a p-amino Phe; an o-amino Phe; an m-amino Phe; a p-acyl Phe; an o-acyl Phe; an m-acyl Phe; a p-OMe Phe; an o-OMe Phe; an m-OMe Phe; a p-sulfo Phe; an o-sulfo Phe; an m-sulfo Phe; a 5-nitro His; a 3-nitro Tyr; a 2-nitro Tyr; a nitro substituted Leu; a nitro
  • Orthogonal translation systems generally comprise cells, e.g., prokaryotic cells such as E. coli , that include an orthogonal tRNA (O-tRNA), an orthogonal aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (O—RS), and an unnatural amino acid, e.g., para-nitrophenylalanine (pNO 2 Phe), para-carboxyphenylalanine, sulfotyrosine, etc. (see above), where the O—RS aminoacylates the O-tRNA with the unnatural amino acid.
  • An orthogonal pair can include an O-tRNA, e.g., a suppressor tRNA, a frameshift tRNA, or the like, and a cognate O—RS.
  • Orthogonal systems, that can be used to produce the unnatural proteins herein, which typically include O-tRNA/O—RS pairs can comprise a cell or a cell-free environment.
  • the orthogonal pair when an orthogonal pair recognizes a selector codon and loads an amino acid in response to the selector codon, the orthogonal pair is said to “suppress” the selector codon. That is, a selector codon that is not recognized by the translation system's, e.g., the E. coli cell's, endogenous machinery is not ordinarily charged, which results in blocking production of a polypeptide that would otherwise be translated from the nucleic acid.
  • the charged O-tRNA recognizes the selector codon and suppresses the translational block caused by the selector codon.
  • the translation system uses the O-tRNA/O—RS pair to incorporate an unnatural amino acid into a growing polypeptide chain, e.g., via a polynucleotide that encodes a polypeptide of interest (such as an unnatural immunogen that corresponds to a target moiety that is in or capable of being in a subject, etc.), where the polynucleotide comprises a selector codon that is recognized by the O-tRNA.
  • the cell can include one or more additional O-tRNA/O—RS pairs, where an additional O-tRNA is loaded by an additional O—RS with a different unnatural amino acid.
  • one of the O-tRNAs can recognize a four base codon and the other O-tRNA can recognize a stop codon.
  • multiple different stop codons, multiple different four base codons, multiple different rare codons and/or multiple different non-coding codons can be used in the same coding nucleic acid.
  • a single polypeptide e.g., unnatural immunogen, can comprise multiple unnatural amino acids and/or different polypeptides created in the system can comprise different unnatural amino acids.
  • some translational systems can comprise multiple O-tRNA/O—RS pairs, which allow incorporation of more than one unnatural amino acid into a polypeptide.
  • the translation system can further include an additional different O-tRNA/O—RS pair and a second unnatural amino acid, where this additional O-tRNA recognizes a second selector codon and this additional O—RS preferentially aminoacylates the O-tRNA with the second unnatural amino acid.
  • a cell that includes an O-tRNA/O—RS pair, where the O-tRNA recognizes, e.g., an amber selector codon can further comprise a second orthogonal pair, where the second O-tRNA recognizes a different selector codon, e.g., an opal codon, an ochre codon, a four-base codon, a rare codon, a non-coding codon, or the like.
  • the different orthogonal pairs are derived from different sources, which can facilitate recognition of different selector codons.
  • Certain translation systems can comprise a cell, such as an E. coli cell, that includes an orthogonal tRNA (O-tRNA), an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (O—RS), an unnatural amino acid, and a nucleic acid that comprises a polynucleotide that encodes a polypeptide of interest, e.g., an unnatural immunogen corresponding to a self-protein target of a subject, where the polynucleotide comprises the selector codon that is recognized by the O-tRNA.
  • orthogonal translation systems can utilize cultured cells to produce proteins having unnatural amino acids, it is not intended that orthogonal translation systems used herein require an intact, viable cell.
  • an orthogonal translation system can utilize a cell-free system in the presence of a cell extract.
  • a cell-free system in the presence of a cell extract.
  • in vitro transcription/translation systems for protein production is a well established technique. Adaptation of these in vitro systems to produce proteins having unnatural amino acids using orthogonal translation system components described herein is well within the scope of the invention.
  • the O-tRNA and/or the O—RS can be naturally occurring or can be, e.g., derived by mutation of a naturally occurring tRNA and/or RS, e.g., by generating libraries of tRNAs and/or libraries of RSs, from any of a variety of organisms and/or by using any of a variety of available mutation strategies.
  • one strategy for producing an orthogonal tRNA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair involves importing a tRNA/synthetase pair that is heterologous to the system in which the pair will function from a source, or multiple sources, other than the translation system in which the tRNA/synthetase pair will be used.
  • the properties of the heterologous synthetase candidate include, e.g., that it does not charge any host cell tRNA, and the properties of the heterologous tRNA candidate include, e.g., that it is not aminoacylated by any host cell synthetase.
  • the heterologous tRNA is orthogonal to all host cell synthetases.
  • a second strategy for generating an orthogonal pair involves generating mutant libraries from which to screen and/or select an O-tRNA or O—RS. Such strategies can also be combined.
  • Orthogonal tRNA (O-tRNA)
  • orthogonal tRNA desirably mediates incorporation of an unnatural amino acid into a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that comprises a selector codon recognized by the O-tRNA, e.g., in vivo or in vitro.
  • compositions comprising an O-tRNA can further include an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (O—RS), where the O—RS preferentially aminoacylates the O-tRNA with an unnatural amino acid.
  • O—RS orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
  • Such compositions including an O-tRNA can further include a translation system, e.g., in vitro or in vivo.
  • a nucleic acid that comprises a polynucleotide that encodes a polypeptide of interest, where the polynucleotide comprises a selector codon that is recognized by the O-tRNA, or a combination of one or more of these can also be present in the cell.
  • Orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase (O—RS)
  • the O—RS of systems used to produce unnatural polypeptides as used herein preferentially aminoacylates an O-tRNA with an unnatural amino acid either in vitro or in vivo.
  • the O—RS can be provided to the translation system, e.g., an E. coli cell, by a polypeptide that includes an O—RS and/or by a polynucleotide that encodes an O—RS or a portion thereof.
  • the orthogonal translational components that can optionally be used to create the unnatural immunogens of the invention, can be derived from any organism, or a combination of organisms, for use in a host translation system from any other species, with the caveat that the O-tRNA/O—RS components and the host system work in an orthogonal manner. It is not a requirement that the O-tRNA and the O—RS from an orthogonal pair be derived from the same organism.
  • the orthogonal components can be derived from archaebacterial genes for use in a eubacterial host system.
  • the orthogonal O-tRNA can be derived from an archaebacterium, such as Methanococcus jannaschii, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, Halobacterium such as Haloferax volcanii and Halobacterium species NRC-1, Archaeoglobus fulgidus, Pyrococcus furiosus, Pyrococcus horikoshii, Aeuropyrum pernix, Methanococcus maripaludis, Methanopyrus kandleri, Methanosarcina mazei (Mm), Pyrobaculum aerophilum, Pyrococcus abyssi, Sulfolobus solfataricus (Ss), Sulfolobus tokodaii, Thermoplasma acidophilum, Thermoplasma volcanium , or the like, or a eubacterium , such as Escherichia coli, Thermus thermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus stearotherm
  • eukaryotic sources e.g., plants, algae, protists, fungi, yeasts, animals, e.g., mammals, insects, arthropods, or the like can also be used as sources of O-tRNAs and O—RSs.
  • O-tRNAs and O—RSs e.g., mammals, insects, arthropods, or the like.
  • individual components of an O-tRNA/O—RS pair can be derived from the same organism or different organisms.
  • the O-tRNA, O—RS or O-tRNA/O—RS pair can be selected or screened in vivo or in vitro and/or used in a cell, e.g., a eubacterial cell, to produce a polypeptide with an unnatural amino acid.
  • a cell e.g., a eubacterial cell
  • the eubacterial cell used is not limited and can include, for example, Escherichia coli, Thermus thermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus stearothermphilus , or the like.
  • selector codons expand the genetic codon framework of protein biosynthetic machinery.
  • a selector codon can include, e.g., a unique three base codon, a nonsense codon, such as a stop codon, e.g., an amber codon (UAG), or an opal codon (UGA), an unnatural codon, at least a four base codon, a rare codon, or the like.
  • a number of selector codons can be introduced into a desired gene, e.g., one or more, two or more, more than three, etc.
  • site-directed mutagenesis can be used to introduce the selector codon at the site of interest in a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of interest (e.g., a self antigen of a subject, etc.). See, e.g., Sayers, et al., (1988) “5′, 3′ Exonuclease in phosphorothioate-based oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis” Nucl Acid Res 16:791-802.
  • multiple orthogonal tRNA/synthetase pairs can be used that allow the simultaneous site-specific incorporation of multiple unnatural amino acids e.g., including at least one unnatural amino acid, using these different selector codons.
  • Unnatural amino acids can also be encoded with rare codons.
  • the rare arginine codon AGG has proven to be efficient for insertion of Ala by a synthetic tRNA acylated with alanine.
  • the synthetic tRNA competes with the naturally occurring tRNA Arg , which exists as a minor species in Escherichia coli .
  • some organisms do not use all triplet codons.
  • Selector codons can also comprise extended codons, e.g., four or more base codons, such as, four, five, six or more base codons.
  • four base codons include, e.g., AGGA, CUAG, UAGA, CCCU, and the like.
  • five base codons include, e.g., AGGAC, CCCCU, CCCUC, CUAGA, CUACU, UAGGC and the like.
  • Particular methods of incorporating unnatural amino acids into proteins, e.g., unnatural immunogens such as any of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s described below, or, indeed, any target moiety of interest can include using extended codons based on frameshift suppression.
  • base codons can insert, e.g., one or multiple unnatural amino acids, into the same protein.
  • the anticodon loops can decode, e.g., at least a four-base codon, at least a five-base codon, or at least a six-base codon or more. Since there are 256 possible four-base codons, multiple unnatural amino acids can be encoded in the same cell using a four or more base codon.
  • a selector codon can also include one of the natural three base codons, where the endogenous system does not use (or rarely uses) the natural base codon.
  • the endogenous system does not use (or rarely uses) the natural base codon.
  • such can include a system that is lacking a tRNA that recognizes the natural three base codon, and/or a system where the three base codon is a rare codon.
  • Selector codons optionally include unnatural base pairs.
  • Descriptions of unnatural base pairs which can be adapted for use with the methods and compositions herein include, e.g., Hirao, et al., (2002) “An unnatural base pair for incorporating amino acid analogues into protein” Nature Biotechnology 20:177-182. See also, Wu, et al., (2002) “Enzymatic Phosphorylation of Unnatural Nucleosides” J Am Chem Soc 124:14626-14630.
  • unnatural immunogens that can be used either to produce an immune response in a subject or to produce cross-reactive antibodies that, in turn, can be administered to a subject
  • the unnatural immunogens can typically be constructed via direct incorporation methods such as an orthogonal translation system or an in vitro translation system or through solid-phase synthesis.
  • indirect incorporations such as chemical modification and post-translational modification can done when in conjunction with (or in addition to) orthogonal translation system methods or in vitro translation system methods or as further modification to amino acids added through orthogonal or in vitro translation systems (or to natural amino acids in such already constructed molecules).
  • various embodiments of the invention can include unnatural immunogens constructed through a number of available methods.
  • an unnatural amino acid is incorporated into an immunogen during construction of the immunogen (e.g., when the immunogen is being translated, created/synthesized, etc.) and is not added through later chemical modification or post-translational modification.
  • derivatization of amino acids with reactive side-chains such as Lys, Cys and Tyr e.g., the conversion of lysine to N 2 -acetyl-lysine
  • side-chains such as Lys, Cys and Tyr
  • Chemical synthesis can also provide a method to incorporate unnatural amino acids. See, e.g., Dawson, et al., Annu. Rev. Biochem., 69:923 (2000).
  • a general in vitro biosynthetic method in which a suppressor tRNA chemically acylated with the desired unnatural amino acid is added to an in vitro extract capable of supporting protein biosynthesis, as has been used to site-specifically incorporate over 100 unnatural amino acids into a variety of proteins of virtually any size can be used herein to create unnatural immunogens. See, e.g., Cornish, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 1995, 34:621 (1995); Noren, et al., Science 244 182-188 (1989); and, Bain, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 111 8013-8014 (1989).
  • An in vivo method termed selective pressure incorporation, can also be used to exploit the promiscuity of wild-type synthetases and thus create unnatural immunogens herein. See, e.g., Budisa, et al., FASEB J., 13:41 (1999).
  • the relevant metabolic pathway supplying the cell with a particular natural amino acid is switched off, and the strain is grown in minimal media containing limited concentrations of the natural amino acid while transcription of the target gene is repressed.
  • the natural amino acid is depleted and replaced with the unnatural amino acid analog. Induction of expression of the recombinant protein results in the accumulation of a protein containing the unnatural analog.
  • Yet another optional/additional strategy to incorporate unnatural amino acids into immunogens herein is to modify synthetases that have proofreading mechanisms. These synthetases cannot discriminate, and therefore charge tRNAs with amino acids that are structurally similar to the cognate natural amino acids with which the tRNAs are ordinarily charged. This error is corrected at a separate site of the synthetase, which deacylates the mischarged amino acid from the tRNA to maintain the fidelity of protein translation. If the proofreading activity of the synthetase is disabled, tRNAs charged with structural analogs of the amino acids with which they are normally charged can escape the editing function and incorporate the structural amino acid analog into a growing polypeptide chain. See, Doring, et al., Science, 292:501 (2001).
  • Solid-phase synthesis and semisynthetic methods can also be used for the synthesis of immunogens containing unnatural amino acids herein.
  • solid-phase synthesis and semisynthetic methods can also be used for the synthesis of immunogens containing unnatural amino acids herein.
  • Chemical modification can be used in the various embodiments herein to introduce a variety of unnatural side chains, including cofactors, spin labels and oligonucleotides into unnatural immunogens of the invention. Again, chemical modification along with other post-translational modifications are typically used, if at all, as an adjuct to the direct incorporation methods such as orthogonal translation. Thus, chemical modification can optionally be used in combination with the orthogonal or other methods above such as to modify unnatural amino acids incorporated through orthogonal methods.
  • biosynthetic methods that employ chemically modified aminoacyl-tRNAs as have been used to incorporate several biophysical probes into proteins synthesized in vitro can be used herein to create unnatural immunogens. See the following publications and their cited references: Brunner, J., Annu. Rev Biochem, 483-514 (1993); and, Krieg, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, 8604-8608 (1986).
  • Unnatural amino acids can also be site-specifically incorporated into unnatural immunogens of the invention by the addition of chemically aminoacylated suppressor tRNAs to protein synthesis reactions programmed with a gene containing a desired amber nonsense mutation.
  • chemically aminoacylated suppressor tRNAs to protein synthesis reactions programmed with a gene containing a desired amber nonsense mutation.
  • close structural homologues e.g., fluorophenylalanine for phenylalanine
  • Microinjection techniques can also be used to incorporate unnatural amino acids into unnatural immunogens of the invention. See, e.g., Nowak, et al., Science, 268:439 (1995); and Dougherty, Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 4:645 (2000). See also, e.g., Turcatti, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271:19991 (1996); Gallivan, et al., Chem. Biol., 4:739 (1997); Miller, et al., Neuron, 20:619 (1998); England, et al., Cell, 96:89 (1999); and, Lu, et al., Nat. Neurosci., 4:239 (2001).
  • Solid phase peptide synthesis is another method that is widely used to chemically synthesize peptides and small proteins that comprise unnatural amino acids (see, e.g., Merrifield (1963) “Solid Phase Peptide synthesis. I. The synthesis of a tetrapeptide.” JACS 85:2149-2154) and which can be adapted to produce unnatural immunogens of the invention.
  • This technique typically comprises two stages: The first stage SPPS can include the assembly of a peptide chain using protected amino acid derivatives on a polymeric support via repeated cycles of coupling-deprotection. The free N-terminal amine of a solid-phase attached peptide can then be coupled to a single N-protected amino acid unit.
  • This unit is then deprotected, revealing a new N-terminal amine to which a further amino acid may be attached.
  • the peptide is cleaved from the support and side-chain protecting groups are removed to produce the peptide, e.g., a peptide comprising one or more unnatural amino acids.
  • Fmoc Carpino, et al.
  • Protein semi-synthesis can also be used to incorporate an unnatural amino acid into a protein to produce an unnatural immunogen herein.
  • Protein semisynthesis often uses a split intein, a section of a protein that can excise itself and reattach the remaining portions, e.g., the exteins, to give a newly active protein called the splicing product.
  • one protein domain that does not comprise an unnatural amino acid can be used with a second protein domain that does comprise an unnatural amino acid, thus producing an unnatural immunogen.
  • This strategy can be of beneficial use to produce unnatural immunogens that are difficult to express in in vivo protein expression systems.
  • a variety of chemical ligation techniques can also be used to incorporate an unnatural amino acid into a protein herein, e.g., during protein semi synthesis, thus producing an unnatural immunogen.
  • NCL native chemical ligation
  • a peptide comprising an N-terminal cysteine reacts with, e.g., an unnatural amino acid comprising an ⁇ -thioester group, e.g. a C-terminal thioester, in the presence of an exogenous thiol catalyst to yield a native peptide bond at the site of ligation
  • an exogenous thiol catalyst to yield a native peptide bond at the site of ligation
  • Expressed protein ligation is a protein engineering approach that allows recombinant and synthetic polypeptides to be chemoselectively and regioselectively joined together. This approach makes the primary structure of most proteins accessible to the tools of synthetic organic chemistry, enabling the addition of any of a variety of unnatural amino acids to be incorporated into a protein to produce an unnatural immunogen. Further details regarding these and other protein chemical ligation techniques can be found in, e.g., Howl, ed. Peptide Synthesis and Its Applications , Humana Press: Totowa N.J., 2005 and others.
  • a variety of protein methods are known and can be used to isolate, detect, manipulate or otherwise handle a protein produced according to the invention, e.g., from recombinant cultures of cells expressing any unnatural immunogen of the invention.
  • a variety of protein isolation and detection methods are well known in the art, including, e.g., those set forth in R. Scopes, Protein Purification , Springer-Verlag, N.Y. (1982); Deutscher, Methods in Enzymology Vol. 182: Guide to Protein Purification , Academic Press, Inc. N.Y. (1990); Sandana (1997) Bioseparation of Proteins , Academic Press, Inc.; Bollag, et al.
  • the invention comprises one or more antibody against an immunogen (i.e., an unnatural disease-related moiety that comprises one or more unnatural amino acid), which antibody can be administered to a subject.
  • an immunogen i.e., an unnatural disease-related moiety that comprises one or more unnatural amino acid
  • an antibody is typically cross-reactive with a corresponding target moiety within the subject, or that is capable of being within the subject, which natural target moiety does not comprise an unnatural amino acid and from which the “unnatural” immunogen is derived or to which the immunogen corresponds.
  • an antibody refers to a protein consisting of one or more polypeptides substantially encoded by immunoglobulin genes or fragments of immunoglobulin genes.
  • the recognized immunoglobulin genes include the kappa, lambda, alpha, gamma, delta, epsilon and mu constant region genes, as well as myriad immunoglobulin variable region genes.
  • Light chains are classified as either kappa or lambda.
  • Heavy chains are classified as gamma, mu, alpha, delta, or epsilon, which in turn define the immunoglobulin classes, IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgE, respectively.
  • a typical immunoglobulin (antibody) structural unit is known to comprise a tetramer.
  • Each tetramer is composed of two identical pairs of polypeptide chains, each pair having one “light” (about 25 kD) and one “heavy” chain (about 50-70 kD).
  • the N-terminus of each chain defines a variable region of about 100 to 110 or more amino acids primarily responsible for antigen recognition.
  • the terms “variable light chain (VL)” and “variable heavy chain (VH)” refer to these light and heavy chains respectively.
  • Antibodies of the invention can exist as intact immunoglobulins or as a number of well-characterized fragments produced by digestion with various peptidases.
  • pepsin digests an antibody below the disulfide linkages in the hinge region to produce F(ab)′2, a dimer of Fab which itself is a light chain joined to VH-CH1 by a disulfide bond.
  • the F(ab)′2 may be reduced under mild conditions to break the disulfide linkage in the hinge region thereby converting the (Fab′) 2 dimer into a Fab′ monomer.
  • the Fab′ monomer is essentially a Fab with part of the hinge region (see, Fundamental Immunology, W. E. Paul, ed., Raven Press, N.Y.
  • antibody fragments are defined in terms of the digestion of an intact antibody, one of skill will appreciate that such Fab′ fragments may be synthesized de novo either chemically or by utilizing recombinant DNA methodology.
  • antibody also includes antibody fragments either produced by the modification of whole antibodies or synthesized de novo using recombinant DNA methodologies.
  • Particular antibodies include single chain antibodies (antibodies that exist as a single polypeptide chain), or single chain Fv antibodies (sFv or scFv) in which a variable heavy and a variable light chain are joined together (directly or through a peptide linker) to form a continuous polypeptide.
  • the single chain Fv antibody is a covalently linked VH-VL heterodimer that can be expressed from a nucleic acid including VH- and VL-encoding sequences either joined directly or joined by a peptide-encoding linker. See, Huston, et al. (1988) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 85:5879-5883. While the VH and VL are connected to each as a single polypeptide chain, the VH and VL domains associate non-covalently.
  • scFv antibodies and a number of other structures converting the naturally aggregated, but chemically separated light, and heavy polypeptide chains from an antibody V region into a molecule that folds into a three dimensional structure substantially similar to the structure of an antigen-binding site are known to those of skill in the art (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,091,513, 5,132,405, and 4,956,778).
  • Antibodies useful in the current invention include polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies.
  • the unnatural immunogens of the invention can be used to produce antibodies of the invention.
  • Polyclonal antibodies, humanized antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, or antibody fragments can be produced using the unnatural immunogens of the invention.
  • the antibodies can be purified by standard methods to provide antibody preparations that are substantially free of unwanted contaminants, e.g., serum proteins, that may affect their reactivity.
  • a selected mammal e.g., mouse, rabbit, goat, horse, etc.
  • Serum from the immunized animal can then be collected and treated according to procedures well known to those of skill in the art.
  • polyclonal antibodies can be purified by immunoaffinity chromatography, again using procedures well known to those of skill in the art.
  • monoclonal antibodies against an unnatural immunogen of the invention can be created.
  • the making of monoclonal antibodies through hybridoma technology is well known to those of kill in the art.
  • an immortal cell line that produces an antibody of the invention can be created by cell fusion, or by other techniques, e.g., direct transformation of B lymphocytes with oncogenic DNA, transfection with Epstein-Barr virus, etc. See, e.g., Schreier, et al., Hybridoma Techniques (1980); Hammerling, et al., Monoclonal Antibodies and T-cell Hybridomas (1981); Kennett et al., Monoclonal Antibodies (1980); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,341,761; 4,399,121; 4,427,783; 4,444,887; 4,452,570; 4,466,917; 4,472,500; 4,491,632; and 4,493,890, etc.
  • Antibodies also can be prepared by any of a number of commercial services (e.g., Berkeley Antibody Laboratories, Bethyl Laboratories, Anawa, Eurogenetec, etc.).
  • the invention provides compositions and methods that can be useful in the treatment and/or prevention of pathologies associated with the activity of TNF ⁇ .
  • Tumor necrosis factor alpha plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory diseases, including Crohn's disease, endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, and others.
  • a major challenge in the treatment and/or prevention of these diseases has been the development of methods that permit the immune system to selectively overcome tolerance to endogenous TNF ⁇ in order to stimulate the production of TNF ⁇ -neutralizing antibodies.
  • Neutralizing TNF ⁇ can alleviate symptoms of such diseases.
  • anti-TNF ⁇ antisera have been employed in numerous experiments to determine their therapeutic potential (reviewed in Veres, et al., (2007) “Infliximab therapy for pediatric Crohn's disease” Expert Opin Biol Ther 7:1869-1880; Ackermann, et al. (2007) “Tumor necrosis factor as a therapeutic target of rheumatologic disease” Expert Opin Ther Targets 8:2553-68, Knight, et al. (1993) “Construction and initial characterization of a mouse-human chimeric anti-TNF antibody” Mol Immunol 30:1443-1453; Present, et al.
  • TNF ⁇ receptors have also been studied for their efficacy in minimizing the symptoms associated with arthritis, septic shock, and Crohn's disease (Peppel, et al. (1991) “A tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-IgG heavy chain chimeric protein as a bivalent antagonist of TNF activity.” J Exp Med 174:1483-1489; Williams, et al.
  • Some embodiments of the present invention provide an unnatural TNF ⁇ , i.e. a TNF ⁇ that comprises unnatural amino acid (UAA), that, when administered to a subject, stimulates or enhances an immunological response against an endogenous TNF ⁇ , e.g., a TNF ⁇ that may or may not be present in the subject at serum levels and/or expression levels that represent a disease state.
  • a TNF ⁇ that comprises unnatural amino acid (UAA)
  • UAA unnatural amino acid
  • treatments for and vaccines against disease states e.g.
  • TNF ⁇ -related disease states those listed herein associated with the presence or level of presence of TNF ⁇ , that entail administering anti-unnatural TNF ⁇ antibodies, which antibodies are cross-reactive with a natural TNF ⁇ , to attenuate or prevent the symptoms associated with TNF ⁇ -related disease states.
  • TNF ⁇ TNF ⁇ -associated disease
  • a subject in whom the immunological response is created and/or to whom the prophylactic treatment is administered, etc may not exhibit at serum TNF ⁇ levels that represent a disease state.
  • the antibodies, and/or the unnatural immunogens of the invention can be administered both to individuals who do exhibit a TNF ⁇ -associated disease as well as those who do not.
  • unnatural TNF ⁇ comprising any unnatural amino acid
  • any of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s described herein are elaborated herein in UNNATURAL IMMUNOGENS and UNNATURAL IMMUNOGEN PRODUCTION and in the Examples.
  • unnatural TNF ⁇ s described in the Examples below have been produced using orthogonal translation systems, it will be appreciated that unnatural TNF ⁇ s can also be produced using any one or more of the non-orthogonal methods detailed herein that are not chemical modifications or post-translational modifications (e.g., selective pressure incorporation, solid-phase synthesis, protein semi-synthesis, and others).
  • an unnatural TNF ⁇ comprises a highly immunogenic (E. Keinan, Ed. Catalytic Antibodies (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005) pp. 1-28), structurally conservative, antibody accessible p-nitrophenylalanine (pNO 2 Phe, FIG. 1A ) residue at amino acid position 86, e.g., pNO 2 Phe 86 TNF ⁇ .
  • the substitution mutation permits the unnatural TNF ⁇ , e.g., pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , to maintain a tertiary and quaternary protein structure that is substantially similar to that of the self-TNF ⁇ , thus increasing the probability that neutralizing antibodies produced against the unnatural TNF ⁇ , e.g., pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , can cross react with corresponding epitopes on the natural mTNF ⁇ , e.g., a mouse TNF ⁇ .
  • the replacement of and/or addition of an unnatural amino acid can optionally not change (or not significantly change) the conformational structure of the unnatural TNF ⁇ as compared to the endogenous natural TNF ⁇ .
  • Additional unnatural mTNF ⁇ derivatives that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a mouse subject include a pNO 2 Phe 11 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -mTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 104 -mTNF ⁇ , or a pNO 2 Phe 113 -mTNF ⁇ .
  • Unnatural hTNF ⁇ s derivations e.g., of GenBank Accession No.
  • AAA61200 that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a human subject include a pNO 2 Phe 11 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 19 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 21 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 42 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 49 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 87 -hTNF ⁇ , a pNO 2 Phe 105 -hTNF ⁇ , or a pNO 2 Phe 114 -hTNF ⁇ .
  • the methods and compositions of the invention can be beneficially used to treat and/or prevent of RBP4-associated diseases.
  • RBP4 a low molecular weight serum protein, is secreted from the liver and adipose tissue and is the principal carrier of 90% of serum vitamin A. Excess levels of RBP4 contribute to such visual diseases as Matthew Wood Syndrome, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and Stargardt's disease, among other conditions. Furthermore, elevated levels of serum RBP4 are also known to contribute to the development of insulin resistance and/or diabetes.
  • Some embodiments of the present invention provide an unnatural RBP4, i.e., an RBP4 that comprises an unnatural amino acid, that can be administered to a subject to treat and/or prevent these diseases, e.g., by stimulating an antibody, B cell, or T cell response against a corresponding natural RBP4.
  • the vaccines, the antibodies, and/or the unnatural immunogens of the invention can be administered both to individuals who do exhibit a RBP4-associated disease as well as those who do not.
  • the methods that can be used to produce an unnatural TNF ⁇ , elaborated herein, can also be used to produce an unnatural RBP4.
  • the unnatural RBP4 can include any unnatural amino acid described herein that is incorporated into the unnatural RBP4 in a method that is other than post-translational modification or chemical modification. Any natural RBP4 can be substituted with any unnatural amino acid to produce an unnatural RBP4. The substitution need not replace the natural amino acid with a structurally conservative unnatural amino acid. Alternatively or additionally, one or more additional unnatural amino acids can be added to an RBP4 polypeptide to produce an unnatural RBP4.
  • the unnatural RBP4 can optionally comprise a structure that is substantially similar to the natural RBP4, thus increasing the probability that neutralizing antibodies produced against the unnatural RBP4 can cross react with corresponding epitopes on the natural RBP4.
  • Unnatural RBP4s that can find use in therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatments in a subject include a pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 and a pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4, as well corresponding human constructs, etc.
  • the treatment methods of the invention can employ an antibody against an immunogen, e.g., a derivative of the target moiety that comprises one or more unnatural amino acids, and/or employ the immunogen itself, e.g., an unnatural TNF ⁇ .
  • an immunogen e.g., a derivative of the target moiety that comprises one or more unnatural amino acids
  • the immunogen itself e.g., an unnatural TNF ⁇ .
  • such antibodies and/or immunogens are present in combination with a physiologically acceptable adjuvant, excipient, and/or stabilizer that is non-toxic to recipients (e.g., subjects) at the dosages employed. It will be appreciated, however, that the current invention is not necessarily limited by the specific formulations of antibody and/or immunogen preparations.
  • Formulations of antibodies and/or immunogens can include a physiologically acceptable adjuvant, excipient, and/or stabilizer.
  • Excipients known in the art include, for example, vegetable and animal oils and fats.
  • Stabilizing agents, wetting and emulsifying agents, salts for varying the osmotic pressure, buffers for maintaining a desirable pH, and/or skin penetration enhancers can be used as auxiliary (i.e., excipient) agents in the various formulations.
  • Formulation can also include one or more adjuvants such as alum, Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA), Freund's incomplete adjuvant (FIA), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), squalene, virosomes, MSP1, QS21, etc.
  • FCA Freund's complete adjuvant
  • FIA Freund's incomplete adjuvant
  • LPS lipopolysaccharide
  • squalene virosomes
  • the formulation can also comprise wherein the immunogen is fused to carriers such as a polypeptide carrier, a carbohydrate carrier (e.g., one or more units of a monosaccharide such as mannose, one or more units of mucin, etc.), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), ovalbumin, hen egg albumin, tetanus toxin or diphtheria toxin, etc.
  • carriers such as a polypeptide carrier, a carbohydrate carrier (e.g., one or more units of a monosaccharide such as mannose, one or more units of mucin, etc.), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), ovalbumin, hen egg albumin, tetanus toxin or diphtheria toxin, etc.
  • KLH keyhole limpet hemocyanin
  • ovalbumin e.g., one or more units of a monosaccharide such as mannose, one or more units of mucin,
  • examples of common excipients that can be used for either antibody and/or immunogen formulations include buffers (such as phosphate buffer, citrate buffer, and buffers made from other organic acids), antioxidants (e.g., ascorbic acid), low-molecular weight (less than about 10 residues) polypeptides, additional proteins (such as serum albumin, gelatin, and an immunoglobulin), hydrophilic polymers (such as polyvinylpyrrolidone), amino acids (such as glycine, glutamine, asparagine, arginine, and lysine), monosaccharides, disaccharides, and other carbohydrates (including glucose, mannose, and dextrins), chelating agents (e.g., ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid [EDTA]), sugar alcohols (such as mannitol and sorbitol), salt-forming counter ions (e.g., sodium), and/or anionic surfactants (such as TweenTM, PluronicsTM, and P
  • the formulation comprises an antibody or an unnatural immunogen of the invention, the specific route of administration, other drugs given, dosage used, etc.
  • the antibody or immunogen can be incorporated into a pharmaceutically acceptable and injectable excipient.
  • the excipient is one such as sterile water, aqueous saline solution, aqueous buffered saline solution, aqueous dextrose solution, aqueous glycerol solution, ethanol, or combinations thereof.
  • the formulations can be prepared for oral administration, e.g., incorporated into a food or drink, formulated into a chewable or swallowable tablet or capsule, etc. Such formulations, thus, allow rapid uptake in the bloodstream and distribution to various compartments of the body.
  • excipients can include pharmaceutical grades of lactose, mannitol, starch, methyl cellulose, magnesium stearate, sodium saccharine, talcum, cellulose, glucose, gelatin, sucrose, magnesium carbonate, and the like.
  • the preparations may be tablets, granules, powders, capsules, etc.
  • the invention utilizes sustained-release pharmaceutical formulations to deliver the antibody and/or unnatural immunogen.
  • An exemplary sustained-release formulation comprises a semipermeable matrix of a solid hydrophobic polymer to which the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention are attached or in which such are encapsulated.
  • suitable polymers include a polyester, a hydrogel, a polylactide, a copolymer of L-glutamic acid and T-ethyl-L-glutamase, non-degradable ethylene-vinylacetate, a degradable lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer, and poly-D-( ⁇ )-3-hydroxybutyric acid.
  • Such matrices can be in the form of shaped articles, such as films, or microcapsules.
  • the immunogens e.g., any of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s or any other immunogens described herein, or anti-immunogen antibodies that cross-react with target moieties can also be prepared in formulations to be administered to a subject transdermally.
  • the antibody and/or unnatural immunogen can be incorporated into a lipophilic carrier and formulated as a topical cream or ointment or in an adhesive patch.
  • Methods for preparing various conventional dosage forms are known or will be apparent to those skilled in the art; for example, see, Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy (21 st Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005).
  • a sustained-release formulation can include liposomally entrapped active agents.
  • Liposomes are small vesicles composed of various types of lipids, phospholipids, and/or surfactants. These components are typically arranged in a bilayer formation, similar to the lipid arrangement of biological membranes.
  • Liposomes containing antibodies/unnatural immunogens can be prepared by known methods, such as, for example, those described in Epstein, et al. (1985) PNAS USA 82:3688-92, and Hwang, et al., (1980) PNAS USA, 77:4030-34.
  • Useful liposomes can be generated by the reverse-phase evaporation method, using a lipid formulation including, for example, phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, and PEG-derivatized phosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-PE). If desired, liposomes can be extruded through filters of defined pore size to yield liposomes of a particular diameter.
  • a lipid formulation including, for example, phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, and PEG-derivatized phosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-PE).
  • PEG-PE PEG-derivatized phosphatidylethanolamine
  • the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention can be prepared into formulations for mucosal administration.
  • Mucosal administration includes such routes as buccal, endotracheal, inhalation, nasal, pharyngeal, rectal, sublingual, vaginal, etc.
  • the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens can be formulated as an emulsion, gum, lozenge, spray, tablet or the like.
  • Nasal administration can be conducted through a powder or spray formulation.
  • the formulations can comprise a cream, douche, enema or suppository, etc.
  • the antibody and/or unnatural immunogens can be prepared into formulations for ocular administration by incorporating them into a solution or suspension adapted for ocular application, e.g., drops or sprays.
  • compositions utilized herein can also include the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens adsorbed onto a membrane, such as a silastic membrane, which can be implanted, as described in International Publication No. WO 91/04014.
  • compositions utilized by the invention can be stored in any standard form, including, e.g., an aqueous solution or a lyophilized cake. Such formulations are typically sterile when administered to subjects. Sterilization of an aqueous solution is readily accomplished by filtration through a sterile filtration membrane. If the formulation is stored in lyophilized form, the formulation can be filtered before or after lyophilization and reconstitution.
  • the present invention concerns compositions and methods to produce or enhance an immunological response in a subject against a target moiety, e.g., a self moiety such as a TNF ⁇ , through administration of antibodies against an unnatural target moiety (an unnatural immunogen), which antibody is cross reactive with the target moiety and/or through administration of the unnatural target moiety itself.
  • a target moiety e.g., a self moiety such as a TNF ⁇
  • an unnatural immunogen an unnatural immunogen
  • target moieties can include, for example, any of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s described in the Examples below as well as myriad other molecules, e.g., as described herein.
  • the specific formulation is given either alone or in combination (e.g., co-administered) with other treatments or medications to therapeutically and/or prophylactically treat one or more of a number of medical conditions/disease states.
  • the administration/treatment regime can vary depending upon whether an antibody against the unnatural immunogen is administered, whether an unnatural immunogen is administered, the specific formulation of the antibody and/or unnatural immunogen that is administered, etc.
  • the administration/treatment regime can vary.
  • administration of an antibody of the invention is different (e.g., in dosage, time-course, etc.) than administration of an unnatural immunogen of the invention.
  • recitation of particular formulations and/or administration regimes herein should not necessarily be taken as limiting.
  • subjects are optionally chosen based on their familial history, environmental exposure, etc.
  • subjects can be chosen based on a family history or family predisposition to a disease state (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, etc.).
  • subjects can optionally be chosen based on exposure or potential/risk of exposure to an infectious agent or other disease causative agent (e.g., exposure or possible exposure of sex workers to HIV, exposure or possible exposure of healthcare workers to hepatitis, exposure of workers to silica compounds possibly leading to silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis, etc.).
  • infectious agent or other disease causative agent e.g., exposure or possible exposure of sex workers to HIV, exposure or possible exposure of healthcare workers to hepatitis, exposure of workers to silica compounds possibly leading to silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis, etc.
  • the antibodies of the invention have therapeutic and/or prophylactic utility. Thus, in various embodiments, they can be used to, e.g., produce or enhance an immunological response against one or more specific target moieties. Therefore, the invention provides methods for treating one or more disease state (e.g., cancer, an autoimmune condition, a pathogenic infection, etc.) related to or associated with such target moiety by using antibodies of the invention. As explained throughout, antibodies of the invention can be used to treat and/or prevent numerous diseases and/or disorders.
  • disease state e.g., cancer, an autoimmune condition, a pathogenic infection, etc.
  • diseases/disorders such as endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, an autoimmune disorder, multiple organ failure, multiple sclerosis, cardiac dysfunction, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, insulin resistance, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cachexia, septic shock, AIDS, graft-versus-host disease, bactericidal granulomas, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and/or silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis, as well as numerous others, can be treated through use of the current invention.
  • diseases/disorders such as endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, an autoimmune disorder, multiple organ failure, multiple sclerosis, cardiac dysfunction, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, insulin resistance, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cachexia, septic shock, AIDS, graft-versus-host disease, bactericidal granulomas, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and/or silic
  • the antibodies of the invention are specific for an unnatural immunogen (an unnatural disease-related moiety, such as an unnatural TNF ⁇ ), but are cross-reactive with the corresponding target moiety that does not comprise an unnatural amino acid (such as a natural TNF ⁇ ).
  • an unnatural immunogen an unnatural disease-related moiety, such as an unnatural TNF ⁇
  • the various methods of the invention comprising antibody administration can optionally be used in combination with other therapeutic/prophylactic treatments (e.g., chemotherapy, antibiotic and/or antiviral treatment, surgery, etc.).
  • the antibodies of the invention can be administered to a subject through injection (e.g., intravenous, intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, or intramuscular injection), or by other methods such as infusion.
  • the antibodies can also be administered via intratumoral, peritumoral, intralesional, or perilesional routes and therefore exert local as well as systemic effects.
  • Effective dosages, time courses, schedules, etc., for administering antibodies of the invention can be determined empirically. Those of skill in the art will be familiar with such tailoring of antibody treatment for numerous medical conditions.
  • the parameters (e.g., dosage, time course, etc.) involved in antibody treatment of a subject can vary depending on, e.g., the individual subject to receive the antibodies (e.g., the subject's species, disease state, overall physical condition, etc.), the route of administration, the particular type of antibody used and other drugs being administered whether the treatment is prophylactic or therapeutic, etc.
  • the unnatural immunogens of the invention i.e., versions of a target moiety which have one or more unnatural amino acid, including, but not limited to, any of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s or RBP4s described hereinbelow
  • administration of such unnatural immunogens produces an immunological response in the subject, an antibody response against the unnatural immunogen.
  • the antibodies produced by the subject against the unnatural immunogen are preferably cross-reactive against a natural version of the target moiety (which corresponds to the unnatural immunogen) that is within the subject or that is capable of being in the subject (i.e., a disease-related moiety whether arising from pathogenic infection, cancer, an autoimmune condition, etc., but which does not comprise an unnatural amino acid).
  • the unnatural immunogens such as unnatural TNF ⁇ s or any of the other myriad possible targets listed herein, can be administered in any of the commonly accepted manners for administration of pharmaceutical compositions.
  • routes of administration for unnatural immunogens can include, but are not limited to: oral, intracerebral, intrathecal, intraperitoneal, intramuscular, intravenous, subcutaneous, transdermal, mucosal (e.g., via suppository or intranasal or transbuccal administration) or ocular administration, etc.
  • the unnatural immunogens can be provided in various dosage forms, such as, for example, tablets, capsules, powders, controlled-release formulations, suspensions, emulsions, suppositories, creams, ointments, lotions, or aerosols. See above. Particular embodiments utilize dosage forms suitable for simple administration of precise dosages.
  • Delivery can contain up to a full daily dose, or the unnatural immunogen can be delivered over an extended period, e.g., 3-10 days, in an amount effective to produce at least an average daily dose.
  • an antibody response typically against the corresponding natural target moiety that does not comprise an unnatural amino acid
  • further administration of the unnatural immunogen can be performed (e.g., until the titer of the desired antibody increases sufficiently).
  • serum samples can be taken from the subject to test for production of the desired antibodies.
  • antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention can be performed in conjunction with administration of one or more other drug or treatment.
  • the antibodies/unnatural immunogens can be administered in the same formulation as another drug, or can be administered separately (e.g., at separate times, in different formulations, according to different schedules, according to different criteria, etc.).
  • multiple antibody types and/or multiple unnatural immunogens can be administered to a subject, again, either concurrently or sequentially, optionally along with other drugs (or treatments).
  • the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention can also be administered, either concurrently or sequentially, with various treatments such as surgery, radiation treatment, etc.
  • the additional drugs/treatments with which the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention can be co-administered optionally are to treat the same particular aspect of the medical condition as the antibodies/unnatural immunogens of the invention (e.g., decrease of a particular target moiety within the subject) or can be to treat other or related (or even unrelated) medical conditions in the subject.
  • the co-administered drugs/treatments can be to treat other aspects of an underlying medical condition (disease state).
  • the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention are optionally administered along with any of a number of common treatments, such as aspirin, salisylates, ibuprofen, naproxen, sulindac (e.g., ClinorilTM), oxaprozin and tolmetin for fever, joint pain and inflammation, etc.
  • antimalarial drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine and quinacrine can be indicated for treatment of malaria or for various skin abnormalities involved in other conditions (e.g., SLE).
  • Corticosteroids, typically prednisone can be administered for organ inflammation, etc.
  • Some androgenic compounds, e.g., danazol (e.g., DanocrineTM) can be used in controlling immune thrombocytopenia and severe hemolytic anemia.
  • the antibodies/unnatural immunogens of the invention can also be administered along with drugs that are effective for secondary conditions arising from the underlying medical condition or even arising from the treatment for the underlying medical condition.
  • the treatments of the invention can be administered along with calcitonin to help treat bone density loss arising from treatment of various ancillary conditions that may arise from use of prednisone, methotrexate, immunosuppressants, anti-inflammatories, etc., in a treatment program.
  • the range of antibody/unnatural immunogen dosages and dose rates effective for achieving the desired outcome in a subject can be determined in accordance with standard industry practices. These ranges can be expected to differ depending upon whether the desired response is the prophylactic, therapeutic or curative treatment of the medical condition (e.g., cancer, SLE, Sjogren's syndrome, bacterial infection, viral infection, scleroderma, allergic diseases, HIV/AIDS, etc.), the type or severity of symptoms, other medications being administered, the age, gender, medical history and other individual parameters of the subject being treated, etc.
  • the medical condition e.g., cancer, SLE, Sjogren's syndrome, bacterial infection, viral infection, scleroderma, allergic diseases, HIV/AIDS, etc.
  • the dosages can be determined based upon changes produced in particular levels of a target moiety, as measured, e.g., in changes as measured by ELISA or the like.
  • a target moiety e.g., in changes as measured by ELISA or the like.
  • typical embodiments herein can measure the levels of the moiety in any one or more of a biological tissue, peripheral blood, serum, plasma, urine, vaginal fluid, semen, saliva, peritoneal fluid, lymphatic fluid, aqueous or vitreous humor, tears, pulmonary effusion or serosal fluid.
  • a particular dosage of antibody and/or unnatural immunogen is used as either a starting point or a target level
  • such dosage is optionally adjusted based on specific factors of the subject receiving treatment. For example, the dosage can be increased if the desired level of target moiety is not reached. Alternately or additionally, if/when the desired level is achieved, the dosage can be tapered down to find the lowest level that will achieve stability at the desired level.
  • the antibody/unnatural immunogen dosage can also be adjusted based upon symptoms of the underlying medical condition being treated. For example, if the subject is being treated for a particular medical condition, then symptoms of that particular condition are optionally used as guidelines or indicators for dosages (amounts and time courses). Thus, in some embodiments, evaluations of the seventy of the condition, e.g., as measured by time intervals between outbursts of symptoms, etc., can be used as indirect measurement of progress of treatment, and, thus, administration can be tailored accordingly. Those of skill in the art will be aware of other tests/diagnostic scales capable of use to monitor symptoms in medical conditions.
  • a variety of animals can benefit from vaccines, therapeutic treatments, and/or prohyllactic treatments provided by the invention, as well.
  • Such animals include, but are not limited to, domestic livestock, such as cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, and/or other common farm animals.
  • Common household pets e.g., cats, dogs, parrots, parakeets, etc., can also benefit from being administered a cross-reactive antibody against an unnatural immunogen and/or the immunogen itself.
  • Antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens provided by the invention can be administered not only to treat a disease state in a subject, e.g., a human, but also to perform treatment efficacy tests, as well as metabolic tests, toxicology tests, and specific tests to determine the effects of the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens on reproductive function or embryonic toxicity, or to determine their carcinogenic potential. Performing such observational studies can entail administering the antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens of the invention to a variety of animal subjects. Those of skill in the art will be quite familiar with numerous medical tests and measurements to help in selection of animal subjects that are to be administered the compositions and/or to whom the methods of the invention are to be performed.
  • Such animal subjects include, but are not limited to, e.g., mammals such as goats sheep, camels, cows, pigs, rabbits, horses, hamsters, non-human primates (monkeys, including cynomologous monkeys, baboons, Old World Monkeys, and chimpanzees), guinea pigs, rats, mice, and/or cats.
  • Birds such as, e.g., domestic fowl (chickens, turkeys), cockatiels, psittacine birds, and cage and/or aviary birds, as well as bird embryos, can also be used in the research and development, production, quality control, or safety testing of antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens provided by the invention.
  • Fish such as zebrafish, platyfish, and swordtails; amphibians, including, e.g., frogs and salamanders; and reptiles (snakes, lizards, and turtles) can also be used in a wide variety of tests to determine the safety, effective dose, and/or toxicology of the compositions described herein and/or the methods of their administration. See, e.g., Barry, et al. (2002) “Information Resources for Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, and Cephalopods Used in Biomedical Research.” United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library Animal Welfare Information Center, and the references cited therein.
  • kits can optionally comprise one or more containers, labels, and instructions, as well components for construction of antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens and/or actual antibodies and/or unnatural immunogens (e.g., unnatural TNF ⁇ s or any of the other myriad examples herein).
  • kits can also optionally comprise one or more antibody (i.e., an antibody against an unnatural immunogen, which antibody is cross-reactive against a natural target moiety within a subject) and/or one or more unnatural immunogen as well as optionally other components (e.g., various antibiotics, various antifungal agents, etc.).
  • unnatural immunogens can include, but are not limited to, any one or more of the unnatural TNF ⁇ s provided by the invention.
  • kits can optionally include tubes or other containers (e.g., of glass, plastic, nylon, cotton, polyester, metal, etc.) to store the components or in which to mix/prepare the components as well as one or more devices with which to administer such to a subject (e.g., a human in need of treatment, etc.).
  • the device with which to administer the components to the subject comprises the container in which the components are stored and/or mixed/prepared.
  • kits can also optionally include additional components in addition to the antibody/unnatural immunogen components of the invention, e.g., buffers, diluents, filters, dressings, bandages, applicators, gauze, barriers, semi-permeable barriers, tongue depressors, needles, and syringes, etc.
  • additional components e.g., buffers, diluents, filters, dressings, bandages, applicators, gauze, barriers, semi-permeable barriers, tongue depressors, needles, and syringes, etc.
  • kits comprise instructions (e.g., typically written instructions) relating to the use of the kit to treat a subject for one or more medical condition/disease state).
  • the kits comprise a URL address or phone number or the like for users to contact for instructions or further instructions.
  • the kits can be unit doses, bulk packages (e.g., multi-dose packages), or sub-unit doses.
  • the antibodies generated against the pNO 2 Phe are highly cross-reactive with native mTNF ⁇ and protect mice against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced death.
  • LPS lipopolysaccharide
  • a major challenge in modern vaccinology is the development of robust methods to selectively induce a strong immune response against self-proteins or to increase the immunogenicity of specific epitopes in foreign antigens that can elicit neutralizing antibodies but that are not immunodominant.
  • a number of strategies are being pursued to address this challenge including the development of improved adjuvants, the introduction of foreign helper peptides into chimeric antigens, and the use of DNA vaccines (Dalum, et al. (1999) “Therapeutic antibodies elicited by immunization against TNF-alpha.” Nat Biotechnol 17: 666-669; Makela, et al.
  • T cell tolerance can be broken by autoreactive B cells, which are readily elicited by immunization with cross-reactive foreign antigens that differ from self-antigen by one or a few amino acids (Mamula, et al. (1992) Breaking T cell tolerance with foreign and self co-immunogens. A study of autoimmune B and T cell epitopes of cytochrome c.” J Immunol 149: 789-795).
  • Nitroaryl groups have historically been used as highly immunogenic haptens (Keinan, Ed., Catalytic Antibodies (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005), most likely because of the propensity of the electron-deficient pi system to interact with the Tyr and Trp side chains common to antibody combining sites. Because of their close structural similarity, we postulated that proteins containing either Phe ⁇ pNO 2 Phe or Tyr ⁇ pNO 2 Phe mutations might generate a robust immune response that would be cross-reactive with the native protein.
  • mice with a Tyr 86 ⁇ pNO 2 Phe mutant of murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇ generates a high-titer antibody response to WT mTNF ⁇ that efficiently protects mice against a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge.
  • LPS lipopolysaccharide
  • mTNF ⁇ was chosen as the target protein for this study because: (i) it is a well characterized cytokine involved in the regulation of infectious, inflammatory, and autoimmune phenomena (Vassalli (1992) “The Pathophysiology of Tumor Necrosis Factors.” Ann Rev Immunol 10: 411-452); (ii) the biological properties of this protein have been extensively studied including its expression, structure, function, and signaling mechanisms (Vassalli (1992) “The Pathophysiology of Tumor Necrosis Factors.” Ann Rev Immunol 10: 411-452; Baeyens, et al.
  • mice are viable and show no apparent phenotypic abnormalities (Pasparakis, et al. (1996) “Immune and inflammatory responses in TNF alpha-deficient mice: a critical requirement for TNF alpha in the formation of primary B cell follicles, follicular dendritic cell networks and germinal centers, and in the maturation of the humoral immune response.” J Exp Med 184: 1397-1411), suggesting that mice will survive a neutralizing immune response against TNF ⁇ .
  • anti-TNF ⁇ antibodies Knight, et al.
  • TNF ⁇ -specific vaccines for clinical use.
  • the latter include recombinant TNF ⁇ molecules containing foreign immunodominant T-helper epitopes, TNF ⁇ fusions to virus-like particles of the bacteriophage Q ⁇ , and keyhole limpet hemocyanin-TNF ⁇ heterocomplexes (Datum, et al.
  • Tyr 86 is highly conserved among different mammalian TNFs, and it has been determined that mutations at this site have no effect on protein folding and trimer formation, but lead to a significant loss in cytotoxicity (Van Ostade, et al. (1994) “Structure-activity studies of human tumour necrosis factors.” Protein Engineering 7: 5-22; Loetscher, et al. (1993) “Human tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) mutants with exclusive specificity for the 55-kDa or 75-kDa TNF receptors.” J Biol Chem 268: 26350-7; Zhang, et al. (1992) “Site-directed mutational analysis of human tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptor binding site and structure-functional relationship.” J Biol Chem 267: 24069-75) (which is advantageous for vaccination purposes).
  • the unnatural amino acid p-nitrophenylalanine (pNO 2 Phe) was genetically introduced into murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇ (mTNF ⁇ ) to replace residue Tyr 86 .
  • mTNF ⁇ murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇
  • Mice immunized with this pNO 2 Phe containing protein were found to generate a strongly neutralizing antibody response that effectively cross-reacted with wild-type mTNF ⁇ . Furthermore, this immunization was found to efficiently protect mice against a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced lethality.
  • LPS lipopolysaccharide
  • E. coli XL1-Blue and BL21(DE3) were used as hosts for cloning and expression, respectively.
  • the vector pET26b was obtained from Novagen (Madison, Wis., USA). Unless described otherwise, E. coli strains were grown in minimal medium containing 1% glycerol and 0.3 mM leucine (GMML medium) or 2 ⁇ YT medium. Restriction enzymes, T4 DNA ligase, dNTPs, and factor Xa protease were obtained from NEB (Beverly, Mass., USA).
  • IPTG and 4-12% Bis-Tris Gels for sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were purchased from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, Calif., USA).
  • pNO 2 -Phe was purchased from Advanced ChemTech (Louisville, KY, USA).
  • Primers were purchased from Integrated DNA Technologies (Coralville, Iowa, USA).
  • DNA polymerase was obtained from Stratagene (La Jolla, Calif., USA).
  • the anti-TNF ⁇ antibody was from R&D system (Minneapolis, Minn., USA) and recombinant mTNF ⁇ was obtained from BioSource (Camarillo, Calif., USA).
  • Plasmid DNA was isolated using QIAGEN Plasmid Purification Kits and DNA purification after restriction digestion was performed using QIAquick PCR or gel purification kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, Calif., USA).
  • plasmid pET26-mTNF ⁇ was constructed that consists of an N-terminal His 6 tag, a factor Xa cleavage site and the mTNF ⁇ gene behind the T7-lac promoter, was used.
  • the plasmid was constructed as follows: The murine tnf ⁇ gene was amplified from plasmid pMuTNF ⁇ (ATCC # 63169) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the following primers: 5′-ATATACATATGCTCAGATCATCTTCTCA AAATTCG and 5′-AACAACCTCGAGTTATCACAGAGCAATGACTCCAAAGT AGACC.
  • the resulting PCR product was digested with NdeI and XhoI restriction enzymes and ligated into a pET26b vector (Novagen).
  • the recombinant vector was then modified to append an N-terminal hexahistidine-tag (His 6 -tag) followed by a proteolysis site for factor Xa immediately prior to the first codon for mature WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • Site specific incorporation of pNO 2 Phe into mTNF ⁇ mutant was carried out by mutating the codon for Tyr 86 , Lys 11 , or Asp 42 with a TAG amber codon in plasmid pET26-mTNF ⁇ , and these substitutions were generated using the Quick Change Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene). The same kit was also used to prepare the mTNF ⁇ mutants Ala 86 mTNF ⁇ , Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ and Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ . The sequences of all mTNF ⁇ constructs were confirmed by DNA sequence analysis performed by the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (San Diego, Calif., USA).
  • the pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ , and pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ mutants were then expressed in the presence of an orthogonal, amber suppressor tRNA CUA /aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair derived from M. jannaschii that specifically inserts pNO 2 Phe (structure shown in FIG. 1A ) into proteins in E. coli in response to amber codon (Tsao, et al., (2006) “The genetic incorporation of a distance probe into proteins in Escherichia coli.” J Am Chem Soc 128:4572-4573).
  • the mutant protein ( ⁇ 1 mg/L in GMML minimum medium) was purified by Ni 2+ affinity chromatography either under denaturing or native conditions, followed by cleavage of the His 6 tag and size-exclusion chromatography.
  • E. coli BL21(DE3) cells were co-transformed with mutNO 2 PheRS, mutRNA CUA and the respective mutant mTNF ⁇ gene. The transformed cells were grown in the presence of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe in GMML medium at 37° C.
  • the refolded pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ was dialyzed against phosphate-buffered saline (PBS).
  • Ni-NTA His-Bind Resin Novagen
  • Protein was eluted with 2 mL of elution buffer (50 mM Tris/HCl, pH 8.0; 150 mM NaCl, 250 mM imidazole, 10% (v/v) glycerol), concentrated with a 10K molecular weight cut-off Amicon Ultra-15 centrifugal filter device (Millipore), and further purified by a Superdex 75 10/300 GL column (flow rate of 0.3 ml/min) pre-equilibrated with PBS.
  • elution buffer 50 mM Tris/HCl, pH 8.0; 150 mM NaCl, 250 mM imidazole, 10% (v/v) glycerol
  • FIG. 1C The composition and homogeneity of the mutant protein was subsequently analyzed by SDS-PAGE ( FIG. 1C ) and mass spectrometry ( FIG. 1D ).
  • FIG. 1C Shown in FIG. 1C is the expression of the Tyr 86 amber mutant of mTNF ⁇ in the absence (lane 2) and presence (lane 3) of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe with the pNO 2 Phe specific mutRNACUA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair.
  • Protein samples were purified by Ni-NTA affinity column and analyzed by SDS-PAGE with SimplyBlueTM staining.
  • Lane 4 represents wild-type mTNF ⁇ and lane 1 is a molecular mass standard. The results depicted in FIG.
  • the composition of homogeneity of the mutant protein was also analyzed by MS/MS sequencing analysis of its tryptic fragments ( FIG. 1D ).
  • an excised gel slice containing pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ was diced into small pieces and mixed with 100 ⁇ L of 25 mM NH 4 HCO 3 /50% acetonitrile. After vortexing for 10 minutes, the supernatant was discarded. This step was repeated twice, and the gel pieces were then dried in a Speed Vac for approximately 20 minutes.
  • the protein sample was reduced by addition of 25 ⁇ l of 10 mM DTT in 25 mM NH 4 HCO 3 . The reaction was allowed to proceed at 56° C. for 1 hour.
  • the gel pieces were mixed with 25 ⁇ l of 55 mM iodoacetamide. After incubation in the dark for 45 minutes at room temperature, the gel pieces were subjected to tryptic in-gel digestion as described in a published procedure (Rosenfeld, et al., (1992) “In-gel digestion of proteins for internal sequence analysis after one- or two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.” Anal Biochem 203:173-179; Hellman, et al., (1995) “Improvement of an ‘In-Gel’ digestion procedure for the micropreparation of internal protein fragments for amino acid sequencing.” Anal Biochem 224:451-455).
  • the resultant peptide mixture was purified with C18 ZipTip (Millipore) and subjected to MS/MS fragmentation on a Thermo Finnigan LTQ mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific, Somerset, N.J., USA), which was run in positive ion mode using the nanospray source at the Scripps Center for Mass Spectrometry, The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, Calif., USA).
  • the partial sequence of the octomer fragment FAISXQEK can be read from the annotated b or y ion series in FIG. 1D .
  • FIG. 12 the sequence of the tryptic fragment containing pNO 2 -Phe is shown in single letter code (X, pNO 2 -Phe). Observed fragment ions of the y and b series are indicated. Key y and b ions proving the incorporation of pNO 2 -Phe are represented in red. All masses are reported as monoisotopic masses.
  • the column was calibrated with a molecular weight gel-filtration standard from Bio-Rad (Bio-Rad Labs, Hercules, Calif., USA) containing thyroglobulin (670 kDa), gamma globulin (158 kDa), ovalbumin (44.0 kDa), myoglobin (17.0 kDa), and vitamin B-12 (1.35 kDa). Protein elution was followed by measuring the absorption of eluted fractions at 280 nm.
  • Bio-Rad Bio-Rad Labs, Hercules, Calif., USA
  • HEK293 cells stably expressing NF ⁇ B-Luc were used in the reporter gene assay (Ye, et al., (2000) “ER Stress Induces Cleavage of Membrane-Bound ATF6 by the Same Proteases that Process SREBPs” Mol Cell 6:1355-1364).
  • the stable cells were dissociated with trypsin, resuspended in DMEM containing 10% FBS at 5 ⁇ 10 5 cells/ml, and plated at 20 ⁇ l/well in 384-well white plate (Greiner, Longwood, Fla.). After 2 hours incubation at 5% CO 2 in a 37° C. tissue culture incubator, 20 ⁇ l of TNF ⁇ was added to the cells. The cells were continuously incubated for 24 hours. Luciferase activities were measured by addition of 20 ⁇ l Bright-Glo (Promega, Madison, Wis.), and the plate was read using a luminescence plate reader.
  • mice Five Bcl2 mice, e.g., #3262, #3263, #3264, #3331, #3351, were randomized into two groups and injected with His 6 -Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (WT) or His 6 -pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , respectively, using the RIMMS (repetitive immunization at multiple sites) protocol (described below). Briefly, the mice were injected 8 times over 18 days.
  • the mouse serum before immunization, the mouse serum was diluted 100 fold (1:100 pre) and after immunization the mouse serum was diluted either 1,000 fold (1:1 K post) or 10,000 fold (1:10 K post) and subjected to ELISA.
  • the ELISA plate was coated either with WT mTNF ⁇ (WT, first three bars) or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (mod, last three bars).
  • mice are viable and show no apparent phenotypic abnormalities (Pasparakis, et al. (1996) “Immune and inflammatory responses in TNF alpha-deficient mice: a critical requirement for TNF alpha in the formation of primary B cell follicles, follicular dendritic cell networks and germinal centers, and in the maturation of the humoral immune response.” J Exp Med 184: 1397-1411), suggesting that mice will survive a neutralizing immune response against TNF ⁇ , allowing vaccinated mice to be analyzed for anti-TNF ⁇ antibody production and biological activity.
  • FIG. 6 shows the serum titers for C57BL/6 mice immunized with PBS ( 6 A); WT mTNF ⁇ ( 6 B); pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ ( 6 C); or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ ( 6 D). Briefly, mice were injected 8 times over 17 days.
  • the plates were sequentially incubated with 200 of primary antibody or serum diluted in 1% BSA in PBS, 20 ⁇ l of HRP-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, Pa.), and 20 ⁇ l of TMB substrate (KPL, Gaithersburg, Md.), and read at an absorbance of 650 nm.
  • the plates were washed with PBST between incubations.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ ( FIGS. 6A and 6B , left bars) or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ ( FIGS. 6A and 6B , right bars).
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ ( FIGS. 6C and 6D , left bars) or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ ( FIGS. 6C and 6D , right bars).
  • serum samples were diluted 1/1000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bar in each pair of bars) or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (right bar in each pair of bars). Before measurement, serum samples were diluted 1/1000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 14 shows results of the determination of serum titer durability.
  • three Bcl-2 transgenic mice were immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • bleeds were taken for ELISA analysis against pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ at defined time points.
  • serum samples were diluted 1:100 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer. At corresponds to the time period between the last immunization and the bleed.
  • mice were immunized with this mutant either in the presence or absence of CFA/IFA.
  • the RIMMS protocol involved 8 injections (5 ⁇ g protein/injection) over a period of 17 days.
  • CFA was used for the first injection and IFA for the remaining 7 injections.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ ( FIG.
  • FIG. 9 second and first bars in each group of four bars) or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ ( FIG. 9 , fourth and third bars in each group of four bars).
  • serum samples were diluted either 1/100 or 1/1000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer. In both cases, e.g., presence or absence of adjuvant, no significant anti-TNF ⁇ titers were generated, indicating that the NO 2 group is required to break immunological tolerance ( FIGS. 6D and 9 ).
  • CD 4 + T cells specific for pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ were elicited only when mice were immunized with this mutant protein and not when mice were immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ ( FIG. 15A ).
  • no significant proliferation was observed when CD 4 + T cells from pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ -immunized Bcl-2 mice were stimulated in vitro with WT mTNF ⁇ ( FIG. 15B ).
  • CD4 + T cells from immunized mice were isolated from lymph nodes by magnetic depletion with MACS beads (Miltenyi Biotec).
  • T cells were then placed into culture with irradiated splenocytes from na ⁇ ve Bcl-2 mice and increasing amounts of antigen. The cultures were incubated for 48 h and then pulsed with [ 3 H]thymidine overnight. The culture plates were harvested onto filter mats and radioactivity was quantified with a TopCount scintillation counter (PerkinElmer).
  • the polypeptide sequence surrounding Tyr 86 is not predicted to be a T-cell epitope based on in silico sequence-based analysis of potential MHC class II DR epitopes in TNF ⁇ (Steed, et al. (2003) “Inactivation of TNF Signaling by Rationally Designed Dominant-Negative TNF Variants.” Science 301: 1895-1898). Nonetheless, to begin to explore the generality of this approach, we determined whether substitution of pNO 2 Phe at other sites might have a similar effect. The surface exposed residue Asp 42 , which is not involved in trimerization or receptor binding, was therefore mutated to pNO 2 Phe.
  • FIG. 10 After confirming the mutation by SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry, two groups of C57BL/6 mice were immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ or the Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ mutant ( FIG. 10 ).
  • the RIMMS protocol involved 8 injections (5 ⁇ g protein/injection) over a period of 17 days in the absence of adjuvant.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ ( FIG. 10A , first bars in each group of three bars; FIG. 10B , first bars in each pair of bars), pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ /pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ ( FIG. 10A , second bars in each group of three bars; FIG.
  • FIG. 10B second bars in each pair of bars in 7, 8, and 9), or Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ ( FIG. 10A , third bars in each group of bars) or PBS ( FIG. 10B , second bars in each pair of bars in 5 and 6).
  • serum samples were diluted 1/100 ( FIG. 10A ) or 1/800 ( FIG. 10B ) with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • significant anti-TNF ⁇ titers were elicited only by immunization with pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ immunized mice elicited significant anti-TNF ⁇ titers. This result indicated that pNO 2 Phe mutagenesis would be a fairly general approach to render specific self- or foreign antigens highly immunogenic.
  • mice from Jackson Laboratories (Bar Harbor, Me., USA) were injected intraperitoneally under 2% isoflurane at the age of 9 weeks with 7.5 mg/kg LPS for the passive immunizations or 15 weeks with 8.5 mg/kg LPS for the active immunization. All experiments were carried out in a room with alternating 12 h light dark cycles under stable conditions of temperature (20-22° C.) and relative humidity (40-60%). Kaplan-Meier survival plots of mice receiving active or passive immunizations are shown in FIG. 11 . The Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted and survival differences were analyzed using a log rank test.
  • mice C57BL/6 mice were immunized with PBS, WT mTNF ⁇ and pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ . These mice were subsequently injected intraperitoneally with LPS (8.5 mg/kg) three days after completion of the above immunization regime, and their survival rate was determined.
  • FIG. 11A mice (8 per group) immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ were compared with 7 mice receiving sham immunizations. Survival advantage of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (p ⁇ 0.01) vs. wild-type is shown.
  • FIG. 11A mice (8 per group) immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ were compared with 7 mice receiving sham immunizations. Survival advantage of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (p ⁇ 0.01) vs. wild-type
  • mice (8 per group) injected with 100 ⁇ g purified IgG from pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or wild-type immunized mice were compared to controls receiving saline injection. Survival advantage of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (p ⁇ 0.01) vs. wild-type is shown.
  • mice (6 per group) received 100 ⁇ L of pooled serum from mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or wild-type mTNF ⁇ . Survival advantage of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (p ⁇ 0.01) vs. wild-type is shown. Control mice were injected with equal volumes of physiological saline.
  • mice immunized with the pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ mutant showed a significantly greater survival advantage (87.5%) than those that received PBS and WT mTNF ⁇ (12.5% survival rate) immunizations.
  • C57BL/6 mice receiving either pooled serum (100 uL) or purified IgG antibody (4 mg/kg) collected from Bcl-2 mice pre-immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ showed a significantly higher survival rate (83.3-87.5%) than those receiving pooled serum or IgG from Bcl-2 mice immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ (16.7-25.0%) ( FIGS. 11B , 11 C).
  • mice were passively immunized 24 hours prior to the endotoxin challenge.
  • mice received an intraperitoneal injection of 100 ⁇ L of pooled serum from mice immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • a second cohort received 4 mg/kg of IgG purified from serum of mice immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ . Control mice were injected with equal volumes of physiological saline.
  • the arsanil-sulfanil-thryoglobulin preparations used in the studies of Weigle contained ⁇ 50 azo linkages per molecule of thyroglobulin (Weigle (1965) “The production of thyroiditis and antibody following injection of unaltered thyroglobulin without adjuvant into rabbits previously stimulated with altered thyroglobulin” J Exp Med 122:1049-1062), resulting in a highly heterogeneous and possibly aggregated or partially unfolded antigen.
  • insertion of T-cell epitopes at various positions in antigens can create proteins with altered tertiary structure, solubility, and stability compared with native protein.
  • This strategy can be applicable to other self-proteins, including those associated with protein folding diseases (e.g., amyloid-beta1-42 peptide) or cancer.
  • protein folding diseases e.g., amyloid-beta1-42 peptide
  • this approach may also permit the generation of a strong antibody response against regions of a pathogen that are predicted to result in neutralizing antibodies against viral, bacterial or parasite infections (e.g., the CS1 protein of malaria or the E410 epitope of HIV-1 gp41).
  • immunogenic amino acids can facilitate the generation of functional antibodies, e.g., agonists or antagonists, of G protein-coupled receptors and other membrane-bound receptors for which it has historically been difficult to generate strong antibody responses.
  • functional antibodies e.g., agonists or antagonists
  • G protein-coupled receptors and other membrane-bound receptors for which it has historically been difficult to generate strong antibody responses.
  • the structural bases for this phenomenon and exploration of its application to human disease are currently being elucidated.
  • FIG. 1 shows the results of experiments that were performed to confirm the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe into mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 1A shows the structure of the unnatural amino acid pNO 2 Phe.
  • FIG. 1B provides an X-ray crystal structure of mTNF ⁇ trimer with Tyr-86, Asp-42, and Lys-11 indicated (PDB ID code 2TNF).
  • FIG. 1C shows the results of experiments that were performed to confirm, that the expression of the Tyr 86 amber mutant of mTNF ⁇ occurs in the presence (lane 3), but not in the absence (lane 2) of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe with the pNO 2 Phe-specific mutRNA CUA /aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair. Protein samples in FIG.
  • Lane 4 contains WT mTNF ⁇ , and lane 1 is a molecular mass standard.
  • the pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ mutant is characterized in FIG. 1D .
  • a tandem mass spectrum of the octamer fragment FAISXQEK is provided, where X denotes pNO 2 Phe.
  • the octamer fragment was produced from trypsin digestion of pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • the partial sequence of the octamer containing pNO 2 Phe can be read from the annotated b or y ion series.
  • FIG. 2 provides the results of a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇
  • FIG. 3 provides the results of a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • the peaks in FIG. 2 confirm that the mass of the unnatural TNF ⁇ indicate that a pNO 2 Phe residue was incorporated.
  • FIG. 5 shows the results of NF- ⁇ B-luciferase activity analysis of WT mTNF ⁇ (squares), pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (triangles), pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ (inverted triangles), Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (diamonds), and Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ (circles).
  • the unnatural TNF ⁇ 's activity is reduced compared to WT TNF ⁇ .
  • Serum titers for C57BL/6 mice immunized with PBS are shown in FIG. 6A ; serum titers for mice immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ are shown in FIG. 6B ; serum titers for mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ are shown in FIG. 6C ; and serum titers mice immunized with Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ are shown in FIG. 6D .
  • Mice immunized with either WT mTNF ⁇ or PBS buffer alone had insignificant serum IgG titers against both pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ and WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ were found to display markedly high serum titers for both pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • the protocol involved eight injections (5 ⁇ g of protein per injection) over a period of 17 days in the presence of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) for the initial injection and incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) for the remainder.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars 1-32) pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in each pair of bars 1-32).
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars 33-36) or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in each pair of bars 33-36).
  • serum samples were diluted 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 7 shows serum titer levels against WT mTNF ⁇ and pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ for Bcl2 mice immunized WT mTNF ⁇ or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • the MAIMS protocol involved eight injections (5 ⁇ g of protein per injection) over a period of 17 days in the presence of CFA for the initial injection and IFA for the remaining seven injections.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (second and first bars in each group of four bars) or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (fourth and third bars in each group of four bars). Before measurement, serum samples were diluted either 1:100 or 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 8 shows the results of serum titer measurements for mice that were immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ in the absence of adjuvant. This immunization also elicited significant anti-TNF ⁇ titers, suggesting that this approach can be applicable to therapeutic settings in which strong adjuvants are not desirable.
  • Serum titers for Bcl-2 mice immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ are shown in FIG. 8A
  • titers for mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ are shown in FIG. 8B .
  • the immunizations were performed as follows: eight injections (5 ⁇ g of protein per injection) were done over a period of 17 days in the absence of either CFA or IFA. ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars) or pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in each pair of bars). Before measurement, serum samples were diluted 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 9 provides serum titer measurements against WT mTNF ⁇ and Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ for Bcl2 mice immunized with Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ in the absence or presence of adjuvant. In both cases, e.g., presence or absence of adjuvant, no significant anti-TNF ⁇ titers were generated, indicating that the NO 2 group is required to break immunological tolerance.
  • the RIMMS protocol involved eight injections (5 ⁇ g of protein per injection) over a period of 17 days.
  • CFA was used for the first injection and IFA for the remaining seven injections.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (second and first bars in each group of four bars) or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (fourth and third bars in each group of four bars). Before measurement, serum samples were diluted either 1:100 or 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 10 shows the results of experiments that were performed to determine the immunogenicity of other surface sites on TNF ⁇ .
  • serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ , and Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ for C57BL/6 mice immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ or Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ are shown.
  • serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ , PBS, and pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ for C57BL16 mice immunized with either pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ are shown.
  • the RIMMS protocol in the experiment involved eight injections (5 ⁇ g of protein per injection) over a period of 17 days in the absence of adjuvant.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ (first bars in each group of three bars in 10 A; left bars in each pair of bars in 10 B), pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ /pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ (second bars in each group of three bars in 10 A; right bars in each pair of bars 7, 8, and 9 in 10 B), Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ (third bars in each group of three bars in 10 A), or PBS (right bars in each pair of bars 5 and 6 in 10 B).
  • serum samples were diluted 1/100 (for 10 A) or 1/800 (for 10 B) with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 11 shows the results of experiments that were performed to determine whether immunization with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ improves survival of mice in a TNF ⁇ -dependent severe endotoxemia model.
  • mice (eight per group) immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ are compared with seven mice receiving sham immunizations. Survival advantage of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (P ⁇ 0.01) vs. WT is shown.
  • mice (eight per group) injected with 100 ⁇ g of purified IgG from pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT immunized mice were compared with controls receiving saline injection.
  • mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (P ⁇ 0.01) vs. WT is shown.
  • FIG. 11C Mice (six per group) received 100 ⁇ l of pooled serum from mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ . Survival advantage of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (P ⁇ 0.01) vs. WT is shown.
  • FIG. 12 provides the results of MS/MS analysis of an 8-mer tryptic fragment derived from pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • Observed fragment ions of the y and b series are indicated.
  • Key y and b ions proving the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe are b 5 , b 6 , b 7 , y 7 , y 6 , y 5 , and y 4 . All masses are reported as monoisotopic masses.
  • the MS/MS analysis exactly matches the pattern for the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe at residue 86.
  • FIG. 13 depicts the results of experiments that were performed to show that the presence of an N-terminal His 6 tag on His 6 -Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ (WT) or His 6 -pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ had no influence on the results of subsequent immunization experiments.
  • FIG. 14 shows the results of experiments performed to determine serum titer durability of the immune response againt TNF ⁇ .
  • Three Bcl-2 transgenic mice were immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ . After a sequence of eight immunizations, bleeds were taken for ELISA analysis against pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ at defined time points. Before each measurement, serum samples were diluted 1:100 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer. ⁇ t corresponds to the time period between the last immunization and the bleed.
  • FIG. 15 shows the results of T cell proliferative assays.
  • FIG. 15A proliferation of CD4+ T cells from Bcl-2 transgenic mice immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , and Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ and stimulated in vitro with serial dilutions of pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ is shown.
  • FIG. 15B proliferation of CD4+ T cells from Bcl-2 transgenic mice immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , and Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ and stimulated in vitro with serial dilutions of WT mTNF ⁇ is shown.
  • CD 4 + T cells specific for pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ were elicited only when mice were immunized with this mutant protein and not when mice were immunized with WT mTNF ⁇ or Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • no significant proliferation was observed when CD 4 + T cells from pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ -immunized Bcl-2 mice were stimulated in vitro with WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • Example 2 characterizes the nature and durability of the polyclonal IgG antibody response created by incorporation of an unnatural amino acid(s) into TNF ⁇ and adds additional support for the generality of unnatural amino acid-induced (e.g., pNO 2 Phe-induced) loss of self-tolerance.
  • Example 2 shows that the mutation of several surface residues of murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇ (mTNF ⁇ ) independently to p-nitrophenylalanine (pNO 2 Phe) lead to a T cell-dependent polyclonal and sustainable anti-mTNF ⁇ IgG autoantibody response lasting for at least 40 weeks.
  • mTNF ⁇ murine tumor necrosis factor- ⁇
  • pNO 2 Phe p-nitrophenylalanine
  • Example 2 shows that the antibodies bound multiple epitopes on mTNF ⁇ and protected mice from severe endotoxemia induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. Immunization of mice with a pNO 2 Phe 43 mutant of murine retinol binding protein (RBP4) was also shown to elicit a high titer IgG antibody response, which was cross-reactive with wild-type mRBP4.
  • LPS lipopolysaccharide
  • Example 2 further supports that the current invention can be a general approach to generate effective immunotherapeutics against cancer-associated or other weakly immunogenic antigens.
  • Nitroaryl groups are highly immunogenic, likely due to their ability to form strong stacking and van der Waals interactions. Indeed, the nonspecific derivatization of autologous cancer cells with dinitrophenyl groups has been exploited as a vaccine in melanoma patients (Berd, D. (2004) “M-Vax: an autologous, hapten-modified vaccine for human cancer.” Expert Rev Vaccines 3:521-527), and physiological 3′-nitrotyrosine formation has been implicated in the pathology of a number of autoimmune diseases (Aulak, et al.
  • antibodies binding more than one epitope are produced through pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ immunization, and these epitopes do not necessarily include the pNO 2 Phe residue of the immunogen.
  • the polyclonal IgGs from pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ -immunized mice cross-react with native mTNF ⁇ with Kd values in the nanomolar range ( FIG. 16B ). Together, these results further support the hypothesis that a cross-reactive neutralizing antibody response can be generated against a self-protein by simply inserting a pNO 2 Phe residue into its sequence.
  • pNO 2 Phe at position 11 induced a high titer IgG response to WT mTNF ⁇ , equivalent to that against the pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ immunogen.
  • mutations of positions 21, 42, and 49 also yielded high titer IgG responses against the pNO 2 Phe-containing immunogen, the IgG antibodies had only moderate cross-reactivity to WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • Antibodies generated against all four mutant TNF ⁇ s were then used for passive immunization of forty C57BL/6 mice, which were randomized into five groups and injected with the anti-pNO 2 Phe or anti-WT mTNF ⁇ IgG.
  • mice Twenty-four hours after passive immunization, the animals were challenged with LPS as described previously (Niessen, et al. (2008) “Dendritic cell PAR1-S1P3 signalling couples coagulation and inflammation.” Nature 452: 654-658). All mice receiving anti-pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ IgG survived the lethal LPS challenge ( FIG. 18 ).
  • mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 were found to display markedly high serum IgG titers (up to 1:100,000), binding both the pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 immunogen and the wild-type protein. Similar results were obtained with C57BL/6 mice ( FIG. 26 ). Furthermore, in accordance with previous observations with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ , CD4 + T cells specific for pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 were induced upon immunization with pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 protein, indicating a mature T cell-dependent immune response ( FIG. 19B ).
  • citrullination and glycosylation are post-translational modifications involved in T cell-dependent autoimmune diseases (Cantaert, et al. (2006) “Citrullinated proteins in rheumatoid arthritis: crucial . . . but not sufficient!” Arthritis Rheum 54: 3381-3389; Backlund, et al. (2002) “Predominant selection of T cells specific for the glycosylated collagen type II epitope (263-270) in humanized transgenic mice and in rheumatoid arthritis.” Proc Nall Acad Sci USA 99: 9960-9965; Dzhambazov, et al.
  • E. coli XL1-Blue and XL10-Gold were used as hosts for cloning, and E. coli BL21(DE3) was used as an expression strain.
  • Restriction enzymes, T4 DNA ligase, dNTPs, and factor Xa protease were obtained from NEB (Beverly, Mass.). Primers were purchased from Integrated DNA Technologies (Coralville, Iowa). Plasmid DNA preparation was carried out with PureLinkTM Quick Plasmid Miniprep Kit (Invitrogen), and DNA purification after restriction digestion was performed using PureLinkTM PCR Micro Kit (Invitrogen).
  • WT mTNF ⁇ and pNO 2 Phe mTNF ⁇ mutants were produced as previously described (Grunewald, J. et al. (2008) “Immunochemical termination of self-tolerance.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105: 11276-11280). Briefly, site-specific incorporation of pNO 2 Phe into the murine TNF ⁇ gene was carried out by introducing TAG amber codons using standard PCR mutagenesis procedures. To express pNO 2 Phe mTNF ⁇ mutants, E. coli BL21(DE3) cells were cotransformed with mutNO 2 PheRS, mutRNA CUA and the mutated mTNF ⁇ gene.
  • the transformed cells were then grown in the presence of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe (Alfa Aesar, Ward Hill, Mass.) in minimal medium containing 1% glycerol and 0.3 mM leucine (GMML medium) at 37° C. and protein expression was initiated by the addition of 1 mM IPTG.
  • WT mTNF ⁇ was expressed in 2 ⁇ YT medium in the absence of pNO 2 Phe.
  • Protein purification was carried out by immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) under either native or denaturing conditions. All proteins were characterized by MALDI-TOF or ESI mass spectrometry.
  • the cDNA encoding murine RBP4 (aa 19-201) (Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation) was amplified with PCR using two primers designed specifically for the Polymerase Incomplete Primer Extension (PIPE) cloning method (Klock, et al. (2008) “Combining the polymerase incomplete primer extension method for cloning and mutagenesis with microscreening to accelerate structural genomics efforts.” Proteins 71: 982-994): 5′- CTGTACTTCCAGGGC GAGCGCGACTGCAGGG (5′ insert forward primer) and 5′-AATTAAGTCGCGTTACAAACTGTTTCTGGAGGGCC (3′ insert reverse primer).
  • PIPE Polymerase Incomplete Primer Extension
  • the pSpeedET vector was amplified using a 5′ vector reverse primer 5′- GCCCTGGAAGTACA GGTTTTCGTGATGATGATGATGATG and a 3′ vector forward primer 5′-TAACGCGACTTAATTAACTCGTTTAAACGGTCTCCAGC.
  • the underlined and italicized bases highlight the two distinct complementary regions between primers where annealing occurs.
  • the pSpeedET vector appends an N-terminal His6-tag sequence (MGSDKLHHEIHHH), followed by a TEV protease site (ENLYFQG) immediately before the 19th codon for mRBP4.
  • the unpurified mRBP4 (aa 19-201) insert PCR product was mixed 1:1 (v/v) with the unpurified pSpeedET vector PCR product. After mixing, E. coli XL10-Gold cells were transformed with 2 ⁇ L of the reaction mixture. Site-specific incorporation of pNO 2 Phe into mRBP4 (aa 19-201) was performed by mutating the codons for Tyr43 or Tyr108 to a TAG amber codon. The sequences of all pSpeedET-mRBP4 constructs were confirmed by DNA sequence analysis.
  • E. coli BL21(DE3) cells were cotransformed with mutNO 2 PheRS, mutRNA CUA , and the respective mutant mRBP4 gene.
  • the transformed strains were grown at 37° C. in the presence of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe in GMML medium, induced with 0.2% (w/v) arabinose when the OD 600 reached 0.5, and harvested after 12-16 h.
  • WT mRBP4 was expressed in 2 ⁇ YT medium in the absence of pNO 2 Phe for 3 h.
  • the cell pellets were suspended in 8 M urea containing 100 mM NaH 2 PO 4 , 10 mM Tris (pH 8.0) and lysed by sonication on ice for 3 minutes. Cell debris was removed by centrifugation at 40,000 ⁇ g for 25 min. 5 ml 50% Ni-NTA slurry (Novagen, Madison, Wis.) was added to the supernatant and mixed gently by shaking for 60 minutes. The Ni-NTA beads were washed with 8 M urea, 100 mM NaH 2 PO 4 , and 10 mM Tris (pH 6.3). Elution was carried out with 8 M urea containing 100 mM NaH 2 PO 4 , and 10 mM Tris (pH 4.5).
  • the protein was concentrated with a 10K molecular mass cut-off Amicon Ultra-15 centrifugal filter device (Millipore, Bedford, Mass.).
  • the mRBP4 protein was precipitated by dialysis against phosphate buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4), and redissolved in 8 M urea containing 20 mM Tris and 20 mM dithiothreitol (pH 8.0).
  • In vitro folding of mRBP4 protein was performed according to Greene, et al. (2001) “Role of conserved residues in structure and stability: tryptophans of human serum retinol-binding protein, a model for the lipocalin superfamily.” Protein Sci 10: 2301-2316.
  • native protein was generated by adding the denatured material in 8 M urea dropwise to folding buffer containing 20 mM Tris, 10 mM ⁇ -mercaptoethanol, 1 mM 2-hydroxyethyldisulfide, and 1% glycerol (pH 8.5) at a rate of ⁇ 30 drops/minute. Folding was allowed to proceed for 16 h at 4° C., and the protein solution was then concentrated using a 10K molecular mass cut-off Amicon Ultra-15 centrifugal filter device (Millipore). The protein was further purified by SEC on a Superdex 75 10/300 GL column (GE Healthcare, Piscataway, N.J.) equilibrated with PBS (pH 7.4) at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/minute.
  • PBS pH 7.4
  • mice Nine-week old male C57BL/6 mice (Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, Me.) were passively immunized by injection into the left half of the peritoneal cavity with 4 mg/kg of IgG purified from serum of mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 21 mTNF ⁇ , pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ , and pNO 2 Phe 49 mTNF ⁇ IgG derived from non-immunized wild-type mice was employed as a negative control.
  • the plates were sequentially incubated with 20 ⁇ l of primary antibody or serum diluted in 1% BSA in PBS, 20 ⁇ l of HRP-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG or anti-mouse IgM (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, Pa.), and 20 ⁇ l of TMB substrate (KPL, Gaithersburg, Md.), and read at an absorbance of 650 nm. Between incubations, the plates were washed at least six times with PBST.
  • T cells Isolation of CD4 + T cells from the lymph nodes of immunized C57BL/6 mice was carried out by magnetic depletion with MACS beads (Miltenyi Biotec, Auburn, Calif.). T cells were then placed into culture with irradiated splenocytes from na ⁇ ve C57BL/6 mice and increasing amounts of antigen. Following incubation for 48 h, the cultures were incubated with 3 H-thymidine overnight. After harvesting the culture plates onto filter mats, radioactivity was quantified with a TopCount scintillation counter (PerkinElmer, Boston, Mass.).
  • Bcl-2 transgenic mice C57BL/6-TgN(BCL2)22Wehi
  • C57BL/6 mice were immunized using the RIMMS protocol. See, e.g., Kilpatrick, et al. (1997) “Rapid development of affinity matured monoclonal antibodies using RIMMS.” Hybridoma 16: 381-389.
  • Bcl-2 transgenic mice demonstrate extended B cell survival and follicular lymphoproliferation making them especially suitable for immunization._Briefly, mice were injected 8 times over 18 days.
  • FIG. 16 shows the results of experiments that were performed to determine whether pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ immunization promotes class-switching to an IgG response.
  • the IgG response that was detected displays significant cross-reactivity with WT mTNF ⁇ and lasts for at least 40 weeks in mice.
  • serum titers for Bcl-2 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ were determined over a period of 17 days in the presence of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) for the initial injection and incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) for the remainder.
  • CFA complete Freund's adjuvant
  • IFA incomplete Freund's adjuvant
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mTNF ⁇ using either anti-mouse IgM (first and second bars in each group of four bars) or anti-mouse IgG (third and fourth bars in each group of four bars) as a secondary antibody. Before measurement, serum samples were diluted 1:100 (first and third bars) or 1:1,000 (second and fourth bars) with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 1 A block diagram illustrating an exemplary antibody
  • FIG. 16B shows ELISA titrations that were performed to quantify the affinity of polyclonal anti-WT mTNF ⁇ IgG (inverted triangles) and polyclonal anti-pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ IgG (diamonds) for either pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 16C shows serum titer durability study of three Bcl-2 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ .
  • bleeds were taken for 20 ELISA analysis against pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ at defined time points ( ⁇ t corresponds to the time period between the last immunization and the bleed).
  • serum samples were diluted 1:100 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • the first bar in each group of 7 bars is prebleed, the second bar is ⁇ 19 weeks, the third bar is ⁇ 23 weeks, the fourth bar is ⁇ 28 weeks, the fifth bar is ⁇ 32 weeks, the sixth bar is ⁇ 36 weeks, and the seventh bar is ⁇ 40 weeks.
  • FIG. 17A serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars), pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in pairs 3, 4, and 5), and PBS (right bars in pairs 1 and 2) for C57BL/6 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ are shown.
  • FIG. 17A serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars), pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in pairs 3, 4, and 5), and PBS (right bars in pairs 1 and 2) for C57BL/6 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ are shown.
  • FIG. 17B serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars), pNO 2 Phe 21 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in pairs 6, 7, and 8), and PBS (right bars in pairs 1 and 2) for C57BL/6 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 21 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ are shown.
  • FIG. 17C serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars), pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in pairs 9, 10, and 11), and PBS (right bars in pairs 1 and 2) for C57BL/6 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ or WT mTNF ⁇ are shown.
  • FIG. 17C serum titers against WT mTNF ⁇ (left bars in each pair of bars), pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ (right bars in pairs 9, 10, and 11), and PBS (right bars in pairs 1 and 2) for C57BL/6
  • FIG. 18 shows that there exists a significant survival benefit for mice immunized with various pNO 2 Phe mTNF ⁇ mutants after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge.
  • FIG. 18A Male C57BL/6 mice were intraperitoneally injected with 4 mg/kg purified IgG from mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ and pNO 2 Phe 49 mTNF ⁇ one day before LPS challenge.
  • mice receiving anti-pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ IgG survived the lethal LPS challenge.
  • Even the other groups receiving moderately cross-reactive anti-pNO 2 Phe 21 mTNF ⁇ IgG, anti-pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ IgG, and anti-pNO 2 Phe 49 mTNF ⁇ IgG had survival rates of at least 75%; whereas mice injected with anti-WT mTNF ⁇ IgG showed a survival rate of only 13%.
  • the ability to break self-tolerance using pNO 2 Phe is not dependent on a single amino acid position
  • FIG. 19 depicts the results of experiments that show the loss of tolerance to a second self-antigen, mRBP4.
  • Serum titers for Bcl-2 mice immunized with WT mRBP4 (19A); pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 (19B); pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4 (19C), are shown.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mRBP4 (single bars in 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9; left bars in each pair of bars 4, 5, and 6) and pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 (right bars in each pair of bars 4, 5, and 6). Before measurement, serum samples were diluted 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 19 depicts the results of experiments that show the loss of tolerance to a second self-antigen, mRBP4.
  • 19B depicts results that show the proliferation of CD4 + T cells from C57BL/6 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 and stimulated in vitro with serial dilutions of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4.
  • FIG. 20 shows that WT mTNF ⁇ cannot sustain pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ induced loss of tolerance.
  • the immunization involved one initial injection of pNO 2 Phe 86 mTNF ⁇ in CFA and seven subsequent injections of WT mTNF ⁇ in IFA.
  • serum samples were diluted 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 21 shows the results of mass spectrometric analyses of three mTNF ⁇ fragments.
  • FIG. 21A shows MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of N-terminal fragment mTNF ⁇ (aa 1-60); calc. mass, 7776.51.
  • FIG. 21B shows MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of internal fragment mTNF ⁇ (aa 61-100); calc. mass, 5597.36.
  • FIG. 21C shows MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of C-terminal fragment mTNF ⁇ (aa 101-156); calc. mass, 7388.18. The peaks in each panel in FIG. 21 confirm that each of the TNF ⁇ fragments are the expected mass.
  • FIG. 23 shows the results of experiments performed to determine whether pNO 2 Phe was incorporated into surface-exposed sites of mTNF ⁇ .
  • FIG. 23A provides a schematic of a X-ray crystal structure of mTNF ⁇ trimer with Lys 11 , Gln 21 , Asp 42 , Val 49 , and Tyr 86 indicated (PDB ID code 2TNF) 30 . See, Baeyens, et al. (1999) “The structure of mouse tumour-necrosis factor at 1.4 A resolution: towards modulation of its selectivity and trimerization.” Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr 55: 772-8._ FIG.
  • FIG. 23B shows SDS-PAGE gel analysis of pNO 2 Phe 11 mTNF ⁇ (lane 1), pNO 2 Phe 19 mTNF ⁇ (lane 2), pNO 2 Phe 21 mTNF ⁇ (lane 3), pNO 2 Phe 42 mTNF ⁇ (lane 4), pNO 2 Phe 49 mTNF ⁇ (lane 5), and WT mTNF ⁇ (lane 6).
  • Protein samples were purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography under native conditions and analyzed by SDS PAGE with Coomassie G-250 staining.
  • FIG. 24 shows the results of experiments performed to confirm the site-specific insertion of pNO 2 Phe into surface sites of mRBP4.
  • FIG. 24A provides a schematic of a X-ray crystal structure of human RBP4 with Tyr 43 and Tyr 108 indicated (PDB ID code 1RBP) 21 . See, Cowan, et al. (1990) Crystallographic refinement of human serum retinol binding protein at 2A resolution. Proteins 8: 44-61). The retinol cofactor is shown in yellow.
  • FIG. 24A provides a schematic of a X-ray crystal structure of human RBP4 with Tyr 43 and Tyr 108 indicated (PDB ID code 1RBP) 21 . See, Cowan, et al. (1990) Crystallographic refinement of human serum retinol binding protein at 2A resolution. Proteins 8: 44-61). The retinol cofactor is shown in yellow.
  • FIG. 24B shows SDS-PAGE analysis of WT mRBP4, pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4, and pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4 after Ni-NTA affinity chromatography and size-exclusion chromatography, indicating that each mutant trimerizes.
  • FIG. 24C shows the expression of the Tyr 43 amber mutant of mRBP4 in the absence (lane 1) and presence (lane 2) of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe; the Tyr 108 amber mutant of mRBP4 in the absence (lane 3) and presence (lane 4) of 1 mM pNO 2 Phe. These results show that pNO 2 Phe is incorporated into the mRBP mutants with high specificity. Protein samples were purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography under denaturing conditions and analyzed by SDS-PAGE with Coomassie G-250 staining. Lane 5 contains WT mRBP4.
  • FIG. 25 MS/MS analyses of tryptic fragments of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 and pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4 match the patterns for the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe.
  • FIG. 25A shows a tandem mass spectrum of the undecamer fragment FSGLWXAIAKK, where X denotes pNO 2 Phe. The fragment was produced from trypsin digestion of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4.
  • FIG. 25B shows a tandem mass spectrum of the dodecamer fragment MKXWGVASFLQR, where X denotes pNO 2 Phe. This fragment was produced from trypsin digestion of pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4.
  • the partial sequence of the peptide oligomers containing pNO 2 Phe can be read from the annotated b or y ion series.
  • FIG. 26 depicts the results of experiments that were performed to determine the immunogenicity of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 in C57BL/6 mice.
  • FIG. 26A shows serum titers against WT mRBP4 and pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 for C57BL/6 mice immunized with WT mRBP4.
  • FIG. 26B shows serum titers against WT mRBP4 and pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 for C57BL/6 mice immunized with pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4.
  • ELISAs were measured against WT mRBP4 (second and first bars in groups 1-10) or pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4 (fourth and third bars in groups 6-10). Before measurement, serum samples were diluted either 1:100 or 1:1,000 with 1% BSA in PBS buffer.
  • FIG. 27A provides the results of MS/MS sequencing of a pNO 2 Phe-containing tryptic fragment of pNO 2 Phe 43 mRBP4.
  • the sequence of the tryptic fragment containing pNO 2 Phe is shown in single letter code (X, pNO 2 Phe). Observed fragment ions of the y and b series are indicated. Key y and b ions proving the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe are represented in red. All masses are reported as monoisotopic masses.
  • FIG. 27B provides the results of MS/MS sequencing of a pNO 2 Phe-containing tryptic fragment of pNO 2 Phe 108 mRBP4.
  • the sequence of the tryptic fragment containing pNO 2 Phe is shown in single letter code (X, pNO 2 Phe). Observed fragment ions of the y and b series are indicated. Key y and b ions proving the incorporation of pNO 2 Phe are b 9 , b 10 , y 10 , y 9 , y 8 , y 7 , and y 6 . All masses are reported as monoisotopic masses.

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US10730973B2 (en) 2015-06-25 2020-08-04 Dow Global Technologies Llc Ethylene-based polymers with low hexane extractables and low densities
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US10501561B2 (en) 2015-06-25 2019-12-10 Dow Global Technologies Llc High pressure free radical polymerization process with flexible control of molecular weight distribution
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US8318172B2 (en) 2012-11-27
AU2009210677A1 (en) 2009-08-13
CN101970005A (zh) 2011-02-09
WO2009099672A3 (en) 2009-11-12

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