WO2014161284A1 - Cell-penetrating polypeptides and uses thereof in drug delivery - Google Patents

Cell-penetrating polypeptides and uses thereof in drug delivery Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014161284A1
WO2014161284A1 PCT/CN2013/084679 CN2013084679W WO2014161284A1 WO 2014161284 A1 WO2014161284 A1 WO 2014161284A1 CN 2013084679 W CN2013084679 W CN 2013084679W WO 2014161284 A1 WO2014161284 A1 WO 2014161284A1
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Prior art keywords
polypeptide
efem
cargo molecule
seq
transport
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PCT/CN2013/084679
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French (fr)
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Xiaoxiang Li
Xiaolin Meng
Xiangdong GUI
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Anhui New Star Pharmaceutical Development Co., Ltd
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Publication of WO2014161284A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014161284A1/en

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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12N—MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA
    • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
    • C12N9/14—Hydrolases (3)
    • C12N9/48—Hydrolases (3) acting on peptide bonds (3.4)
    • C12N9/50—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25)
    • C12N9/64—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25) derived from animal tissue
    • C12N9/6402—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25) derived from animal tissue from non-mammals
    • C12N9/6405—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25) derived from animal tissue from non-mammals not being snakes
    • C12N9/6408—Serine endopeptidases (3.4.21)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12N—MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA
    • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
    • C12N9/14—Hydrolases (3)
    • C12N9/48—Hydrolases (3) acting on peptide bonds (3.4)
    • C12N9/50—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25)
    • C12N9/64—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25) derived from animal tissue
    • C12N9/6421—Proteinases, e.g. Endopeptidases (3.4.21-3.4.25) derived from animal tissue from mammals
    • C12N9/6424—Serine endopeptidases (3.4.21)
    • C12N9/6435—Plasmin (3.4.21.7), i.e. fibrinolysin
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
    • A61K47/30—Macromolecular organic or inorganic compounds, e.g. inorganic polyphosphates
    • A61K47/42—Proteins; Polypeptides; Degradation products thereof; Derivatives thereof, e.g. albumin, gelatin or zein
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
    • A61K47/50—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates
    • A61K47/51—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent
    • A61K47/62—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient the non-active ingredient being chemically bound to the active ingredient, e.g. polymer-drug conjugates the non-active ingredient being a modifying agent the modifying agent being a protein, peptide or polyamino acid
    • A61K47/64—Drug-peptide, drug-protein or drug-polyamino acid conjugates, i.e. the modifying agent being a peptide, protein or polyamino acid which is covalently bonded or complexed to a therapeutically active agent
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
    • C07K14/52—Cytokines; Lymphokines; Interferons
    • C07K14/555—Interferons [IFN]
    • C07K14/56—IFN-alpha
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
    • C07K14/575—Hormones
    • C07K14/61—Growth hormone [GH], i.e. somatotropin
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y304/00—Hydrolases acting on peptide bonds, i.e. peptidases (3.4)
    • C12Y304/21—Serine endopeptidases (3.4.21)
    • C12Y304/21007—Plasmin (3.4.21.7), i.e. fibrinolysin
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K38/00—Medicinal preparations containing peptides
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K9/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by special physical form
    • A61K9/0012—Galenical forms characterised by the site of application
    • A61K9/0048—Eye, e.g. artificial tears
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide
    • C07K2319/01—Fusion polypeptide containing a localisation/targetting motif
    • C07K2319/10—Fusion polypeptide containing a localisation/targetting motif containing a tag for extracellular membrane crossing, e.g. TAT or VP22

Definitions

  • the present application relates to cell-penetrating polypeptides and uses thereof in drug delivery.
  • the main absorbing barriers of oral administration are gastrointestinal enzymes barrier and mucosal physical barrier.
  • the degradation of gastric acid and proteases within the gastrointestinal tract is one of the key factors that result in difficult oral absorption of protein drugs.
  • the currently available enteric coating technique can partially solve this problem.
  • most of the protein drugs with large molecular weight and poor lipid solubility cannot achieve intestinal absorption due to the low permeability of gastrointestinal mucous membrane (Goldberg M. et al, Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2003, 2:289).
  • CPPs Cell Penetrating Peptides
  • PTD Protein Transduction Domain
  • EFE Earthworm fibrinolytic enzyme
  • lumbrukinase is a proteolytic enzyme with fibrinolysis activity extracted from earthworms. It can activate plasminogen to become plasmin and/or directly hydrolyze fibrin.
  • EFE is an orally effective thrombolytic drug, which can be used to prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and pulmonary embolism (Tang Yajuan, et al, Capital Medicine, 03: 39, 2011). In 2001, Qiao et al.
  • CPPs Cell Penetrating Peptides
  • PTD Protein Transduction Domain
  • the present application relates to a cell-penetrating polypeptide, a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, a complex of the polypeptide and pharmaceutical composition comprising the polypeptide, a method of producing the polypeptide, as well as use of such polypeptide, nucleic acid, complex and pharmaceutical composition.
  • the present application relates to an isolated cell-penetrating polypeptide, which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an amino acid sequence having at least 70%>, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to SEQ ID NO: 2, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein contains at least 100 to 246 amino acids, or at least 100 to 159 amino acids.
  • the polypeptide as described herein contains any one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
  • the present application relates to a transport complex, which comprises a transport moiety comprising a cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein, and a cargo molecule.
  • the cargo molecule can be a chemical compound or a bio macro molecule (for example, a polypeptide or polynucleotide).
  • the transport moiety can be linked to the cargo molecule directly or through a linker. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the cargo molecule through a linker. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the cargo molecule through a linker. In some embodiments, the linker is a peptide.
  • the cargo molecule is human interferon-a 2a, human growth hormone, or enhanced green fluorescent protein.
  • the present application relates to a pharmaceutical composition, comprising the transport complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
  • the pharmaceutical composition is an oral formulation, an injection formulation, a mouth spray formulation or a nasal spray formulation.
  • the present application relates to a method of delivering a cargo molecule across a cell in a subject, which comprises administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, the transport complex comprises a transport moiety comprising the polypeptide as described herein, and the cargo molecule.
  • the present application relates to an isolated nucleic acid, which comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the cell-penetrating polypeptide.
  • the present application relates to a method of producing the cell-penetrating polypeptide, comprising expressing an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid encoding the cell-penetrating polypeptide in a host cell under a condition allowing expression of the polypeptide; harvesting and purifying the expressed polypeptide.
  • the present application relates to use of the cell-penetrating polypeptide for delivering a cargo molecule to a cell in a subject, which comprises administering the subject with a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety containing the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein, and the cargo molecule.
  • FIG. 1 shows plasmid pET-32a.
  • FIG. 2 shows the results of enzyme digestion and PCR identification of recombinant plasmid pET-32a-EFEm, wherein, lanes 1 and 2: EcoRI/XhoI double enzyme digestion results of pET-32a-EFEm (the target band is dark); lanes 3 and 4: PCR identification results by using plasmid pET-32a-EFEm as the template; lane 5: PCR identification results by using pET-32a-EFEm/JM109 bacterial extract as the template solution; lane M: DN A molecular weight marker (bp).
  • FIG. 3 shows SDS-PAGE detection results of EFEm (a mutant of EFE) expression, wherein, lane M: protein molecular weight marker (KD); lane 1 : after induction of pET-32a /BL21(DE3); lane 2: before induction of pET-32a -EFEm/BL21 (DE3); lane 3: after induction of pET-32a-EFEm/BL21(DE3) (46.8KD); lane 4: centrifuged supernatant of the disrupted bacteria after induction of pET-32a -EFEm/BL21(DE3); lane 5: inclusion bodies after induction of pET-32a-EFEm/BL21 (DE3); lane 6: before induction of pET-32a-EFE/BL21(DE3); lane 7: after induction of pET-32a-EFE/BL21(DE3) (46.9 kD); lane 8: centrifuged
  • FIG. 4 shows SDS-PAGE detection results of purified protein EFEm, wherein, lane M: protein marker; lanes 1-5: partial samples collected step-by-step during EFEm purification, the molecular weight is 46.8KD.
  • FIG. 5 shows fibrinolysis activity results of EFEm measured by the fibrin protein plate assay, wherein, A: EFE standard; B: purified protein of soluble EFEm; C: purified renatured protein of EFEm inclusion body; D: purified EFEm inclusion body before renaturation; E: purified protein of soluble EFE.
  • FIG. 6 shows the plasmid pET22b.
  • FIG. 7 shows the results of enzyme digestion of recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a, wherein, lane 1 : PCR product of IFN a 2a; lane 2: DNA Marker; lane 3: Nde I & BamH I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET 22b-IFN a 2a.
  • FIG. 8 shows the identification results of recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm, wherein, lane 1 : DNA Marker; lane 2: Nde I & BamH I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm (IFN a 2a fragment); lane 3: BamH I & Xho I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm (EFEm fragment); lane 4: Nde I & Xho I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm (IFN a 2a-EFEm fragment); lane 5: recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • lane 1 DNA Marker
  • lane 2 Nde I & BamH I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-
  • FIG. 9 shows the results of SDS-PAGE identification of inducible expression and purification of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm, wherein, lane 1 : protein marker; lane 2: centrifuged supernatant of bacterial lysate after induction of pET-22b (+) -IFN a 2a-EFEm/BL21; lane 3: centrifuged precipitates of bacterial lysate after induction of pET-22b (+) -IFN a 2a-EFEm/BL21; lanes 4 and 5: renatured and purified fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • FIG. 10 shows the determination results of antiviral titer of IFN a 2a -EFEm by VSV-HeLa system, wherein the antiviral activity of the interferon IFN standard as indicated by the box is 1.0IU/ml.
  • FIG. 11 shows the ELISA results of intestinal absorption of IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • FIG. 12 shows the results of enzyme digestion identification of recombinant plasmid pMD-EFEm-hGH, wherein, lane 1 : D 10000 DNA marker; lane 2: Xho I single enzyme digestion product of pMD-EFEm-hGH; lane 3: Xho I and Msc I double enzyme digestion product; lane 4: PCR products of EFEm-hGH; lane 5: PCR product of EFEm; lane 6: PCR product of hGH; lane 7: D2000 DNA marker.
  • FIG. 13 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 26) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 27) of EFEm-hGH.
  • FIG. 14 shows the inducible expression profiles of fusion protein EFEm-hGH, wherein, lane 1 : molecular weight marker; lane 2: E.coli BL21/pET22b; lane 3: E.coli BL21/pET22b-EFEm-hGH (BL21) without IPTG induction; lane 4: E.coli BL21/pET22b-EFEm-hGH (BL21) with IPTG induction.
  • FIG. 15 shows SDS-PAGE detection results of renatured and purified fusion protein EFEm-hGH, wherein, lane 1 : molecular weight marker; lane 2: purified EFEm-hGH.
  • FIG. 16 shows ELISA results of the intestinal absorption of EFEm-hGH.
  • FIG. 17 shows the results of enzyme digestion identification of recombinant plasmid pET-32a-EFEi_i 59, wherein, lane 1 : EcoR I and Xho I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET-32a-EFEi_i 59 ; lane 2: PCR product of EFEi_i 59 ; lane 3: DNA Marker D2000.
  • FIG. 18 shows the expression results of EFEi_i 59 , wherein, lane 1 : protein molecular weight marker; lane 2: IPTG induction of pET-32a/BL21(DE3); lane 3: before IPTG induction of pET-32a- EFEi_i 59 /BL21(DE3); lane 4: IPTG induction of pET-32a EFEi_i 59 /BL21(DE3) (37.7 KD); lane 5: without IPTG induction of pET-32a-EFEi_i 5 9 /BL21 (DE3); lane 6: ultrasonic disruption solution of induced pET-32a-EFEi_i 59/BL21(DE3); lane 7: centrifuged supernatant of ultrasonic disruption solution of induced pET-32a- EFEi_i 59/BL21 (DE3). Induction condition: ImM IPTG, 37°C, 4h.
  • FIG. 19 shows the extraction and purification results of EFEi_i 59 , wherein, A: soluble protein; B: inclusion body protein; lane M: protein molecular weight marker; lanes 1-4 of FIG. A and lanes 1-5 of FIG. B: partial samples collected step-by- step during EFEi_i 59 purification, the molecular weight is 37.7KD.
  • FIG. 20 shows the results of fibrinolysis activity of EFEi_i 59 by fibrin plate assay, wherein, a: EFE standard; b: purified soluble protein EFE expressed in E. Coli; c: purified soluble protein EFEi_i 59 .
  • FIG. 21 shows the results of enzyme digestion identification of recombinant plasmid pET32a-EFEi_ioo-EGFP, wherein, lane 1 : DNA/Hindlll marker; lanes 2 ⁇ 5: double enzyme digestion identification of positive clones with EcoRI and Notl; lane 6: DL2000 DNA marker.
  • FIG. 22 shows the results of extraction and purification and Western blotting assay of EFEi_i 0 o-EGFP, wherein, lane 1 : sample of fusion protein EFEi_ioo-EGFP purified by Ni-NTA affinity column chromatography; lane 2: protein molecular weight standard; lane 3: induction of pET32a(+)-EFEi_ioo-EGFP/BL21(DE3); lane 4: induction of empty vector pET32a(+) without target gene in BL21(DE3); lane 5: pET32a(+)-EFEi_i 00 -EGFP/BL21(DE3) before IPTG induction; lane 6: pET32a(+)-EFEi_i 00 -EGFP in BL21(DE3) without IPTG induction; the right panel shows Western blotting results, the arrow indicates the fusion protein.
  • FIG. 23 shows the fluorescence of mice serum, wherein, A: EFEi_ioo-EGFP protein solution as a control; B: serum of mice at 2 hours after the intraperitoneal injection of EGFP; C: serum of mice at 2 hours after the intraperitoneal injection of fusion protein EFEi_ioo-EGFP.
  • FIG. 24 shows the ELISA results of EFEnoo-EGFP in the serum of mice, wherein, A: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of soluble fusion protein EFEnoo-EGFP; B: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of renatured inclusion body protein EFEnoo-EGFP; C: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of normal saline; D: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of soluble EGFP
  • FIG. 25 shows the Western blotting results of experimental mice, wherein, lane 1 : serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of normal saline; lane 2: serum of mice at 1 hour after the intraperitoneal injection of soluble fusion protein EFEPi_ioo -EGFP; lane 3: serum of mice at 1 hour after the intraperitoneal injection of soluble fusion protein EGFP; lane 4: serum of mice at 3 hours after the intraperitoneal injection of EFEPi_ioo -EGFP obtain after the renaturation of expressed inclusion body.
  • FIG. 26 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 5) of the naturally-occurring EFE protein.
  • FIG. 27 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 6) of EFEm.
  • FIG. 28 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 3) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 7) of EFEi_i 00 .
  • FIG. 29 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 4) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 8) of EFEi_i 59 .
  • FIG. 30 shows the plasmid map of pUCm-T.
  • FIG. 31 shows the plasmid map of pMD-T.
  • One aspect of the present application relates to a cell-penetrating polypeptide fragment.
  • the present application relates to an isolated polypeptide comprising a mutant of EFE or a partial polypeptide fragment of EFE, the mutant or fragment is capable of penetrating a cell, but essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity.
  • the polypeptide fragment of EFE is the amino terminal fragment of EFE.
  • the polypeptide fragment of EFE has at least 100 amino acids, or at least 110 amino acids, or at least 120 amino acids, or at least 130 amino acids, or at least 140 amino acids, or at least 150 amino acids of the amino terminal of the full length sequence of EFE amino acid.
  • the polypeptide fragment of the EFE has any length of 100-159 amino acids at the amino terminal of the full length sequence of EFE amino acid.
  • polypeptide can be used interchangeably and refer to the polymer of amino acids.
  • the polypeptide, protein or peptide as described herein may contain naturally-occurring amino acids, as well as non-naturally-occurring amino acids, or analogues and simulants of amino acids.
  • the polypeptide, protein or peptide can be obtained by any method well-known in the art, for example, but not limited to, isolation and purification from natural materials, recombinant expression, chemical synthesis, etc.
  • isolated refers to a material (for example, polypeptide or nucleic acid) that is separated from its naturally existing environment, or exists in an environment different from that in which it may naturally occur.
  • Cell-penetrating refers to that, the polypeptide is capable of penetrating a cell membrane, transferring from one side of the cell membrane to another side, for example, entering into a cell from the outside of the cell by penetrating the cell membrane, or capable of penetrating a physical barrier formed by one or more layers of cells.
  • the polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating living cells, cells in vitro or in vivo.
  • the polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating different types of cells, including, but not limited to, gastrointestinal epithelial cells (such as oral epithelial cells, esophageal epithelial cells, gastric epithelial cells, duodenum epithelial cells, intestinal epithelial cells, jejunal epithelial cells, ileal epithelial cells, colonic epithelial cells), mucosal cells (such as oral mucosal cells, nasal mucosal cells, gastric mucosal cells, small intestinal mucosal cells, colonic mucosal cells, duodenal mucosal cells), skin cells (such as epidermal cells, epithelial cells, dermal cells, endothelial cells), or vascular cells (such as vascular wall cells, vascular endothelial cells, vascular cortical cells, vascular smooth muscle cells).
  • the polypeptide as provided herein is capable of penetrating the intestinal epithelial cells.
  • the polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating cells by itself or by carrying other molecules in the form of complex.
  • the polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating cells intactly, and still retains its biological activity after penetrating cells.
  • the cell-penetrating activity of the polypeptide of the present application is at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100%, 110%, 120%, 130%, 140% or 150% of that of the full-length EFE.
  • the cell-penetrating function of a polypeptide can be determined by methods known in the art, for example, by administering the experimental animals with the polypeptide as disclosed herein, then drawing blood, and detecting the amount of the polypeptide contained in the blood to determine its capability of penetrating cells.
  • the amount of the polypeptide can be determined by any appropriate methods, for example, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), by coating a microwell plate with EFE antibodies, using HRP-EFE antibody as the color-developing antibody, using o-phenylenediamine (OPD) as the substrate, reading OD492 on the microplate reader, a larger OD value indicating more penetrated materials and stronger capability of cell penetration.
  • ELISA Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • the amount of the polypeptide can be determined by serum fluorescence assay.
  • the fusion protein EFEnoo-EGFP comprising the penetrating polypeptide EFE 1-100 as provided herein and green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as test sample is tested while EGFP is used as a negative control; Kunming mice are given intraperitoneal injection of EFE1 00-EGFP and EGFP at the same concentration; two hours later, the presence of fluorescence in serum of mice with injection of EFEnoo-EGFP and EGFP, respectively, is detected under ultraviolet excitation. The presence of fluorescence indicates that EFE 1 00 has cell penetration activity.
  • the isolated polypeptide as provided herein is essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity.
  • fibrinolysis activity refers to the ability of converting the fibrin into small fragments of fibrin degradation products (FDPs), or converting inactive plasminogen into active plasmin.
  • the fibrinolysis activity can be determined by methods known in the art, for example, the fibrin plate assay (see, Jespersen J, Astrup T., A study of the fibrin plate assay of fibrinolytic agents - optimal conditions, reproducibility and precision. Haemostasis, 1983, 13: 301-315).
  • agarose, bovine plasminogen, bovine fibrinogen and bovine thrombin are used to prepare a fibrin plate, on which the polypeptide solution of the present application is applied by dropping to determine the fibrinolysis activity by observing the dissolving circle of the fibrin.
  • the parts where the polypeptide solution of the present application is applied will show transparent zones due to the hydrolysis of fibrin, a larger transparent zone indicates stronger fibrinolysis activity.
  • the fibrinolysis activity can be determined by fibrin zymography (see, WU jin-xia et al, Determination of fibrinolytic enzymes from earthworm (Eisenia foetida) by fibrin zymography, Chin Pharm J., 2005, 40 (21): 1656-1659), which is a combination of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) technique and fibrin plate assay.
  • fibrin zymography see, WU jin-xia et al, Determination of fibrinolytic enzymes from earthworm (Eisenia foetida) by fibrin zymography, Chin Pharm J., 2005, 40 (21): 1656-1659
  • SDS-PAGE sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
  • fibrinogen is added into the polyacrylamide gel solution, fibrinogen is converted into fibrin under the action of thrombin at the same time of gel formation, the test solution containing plasmin is under electrophoresis, heat preservation, dyeing and decoloration, the regions where the plasmin component is located show transparent zones due to the hydrolysis of fibrin, the other regions are blue, and the amount of plasmin component can be clearly observed from the zymography.
  • the polypeptide as provided herein is essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity.
  • the phrase "essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity" means that the fibrinolysis activity is reduced by at least 50%, 60%, 70%>, 80%>, 90%>, 95%, or 99% when compared with the fibrinolysis activity of the natural full-length EFE.
  • the fibrinolysis activity of the polypeptides provided herein is undetectable.
  • the present application provides a mutant of EFE, EFEm.
  • the mutant EFEm is generated by mutation at sites 192 and 221 in the natural full-length sequence of EFE from Cys to Gly.
  • the mutant EFEm loses its intrinsic fibrinolysis activity, but retains the activity of cell penetration, can effectively penetrate intestinal mucosa and enter blood circulation system, and the efficiency of penetration is higher than the EFE.
  • the amino acid sequence of the mutant EFEm is shown as SEQ ID NO: 2: [064] MELPPGTKIVGGIEARPYEFPWQVSVR KSSDSHFCGGSIINDRWV VCAAHCMQGEAPALVSLVVGEHDRSAASTVRQTHDVDSIFVHEDYNTNTLE NDVSVIKTSVAITFDINVGPICAPDPANDYVYRKSQCSGWGTINSGGICCPNVL RYVTLNDTTNQYCEDVYPLNSIYDDMICASDNTGGNDRDSGQGDSGGPLSV KDGSGIFSLIGIVSWGIGGASGYPGVYSRVGFHAAWITDIITNN (SEQ ID NO:2).
  • the present application provides a polypeptide fragment (SEQ ID NO: 3) containing 100 amino acids of the amino terminal of EFE, the polypeptide fragment (EFEi_i 0 o) does not have fibrinolysis activity, but retains the cell-penetrating function.
  • the present application provides a polypeptide fragment (SEQ ID NO: 4) containing 159 amino acids of the amino terminal of EFE, the polypeptide fragment (EFEi_i 59 ) does not have fibrinolysis activity, but retains the cell-penetrating function.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%>, at least 85%, at least 90%>, at least 95%, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to SEQ ID NO: 2, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has at least 70%>, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%o, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to the polypeptide sequence EFEi_i 0 o as shown in SEQ ID NO: 3, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%o, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to the polypeptide sequence EFEi_i 59 as shown in SEQ ID NO: 4, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
  • percent (%) homology to refers to, for amino acid sequences, the percentage of identity between two amino acid sequences after aligning the candidate and the reference sequences, and if necessary introducing gaps, to achieve the maximum number of identical amino acids; for nucleotide sequence, the percentage of identity between two nucleotide sequences after aligning the candidate and the reference sequences, and if necessary introducing gaps, to achieve the maximum number of identical nucleotides.
  • the percentage of homology can be determined by various well-known methods in the art. For example, the comparison of sequence can be achieved by the following publically available tools: BLASTp software (available from the website of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi also see, Altschul S.F.et al, J. Mol. Biol, 215:403-410 (1990); Stephen F.
  • NCBI National Center for Biotechnology Information
  • polypeptides homologous to SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4 are capable of penetrating cells, and are essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity.
  • the cell-penetrating function and fibrinolysis activity of these homologous polypeptides can be tested and validated by the methods mentioned above.
  • the polypeptide provided by the present application comprises the analogues thereof.
  • the polypeptide analogue refers to a polypeptide with a functional or structural feature completely or partially similar to the polypeptide (i.e. parent polypeptide) as provided herein.
  • the polypeptide analogue may be a fragment, mutant, derivative, or variant of a parent polypeptide, and may contain chemical or biological modifications.
  • the polypeptide analogue may have one or more amino acid substitutions, additions, deletions, insertions, truncations, modifications (e.g. phosphorylation, glycosylation, labeling, etc.), or any combination thereof, of the parent polypeptide.
  • the analogue may include naturally occurring variants of the parent polypeptide and artificial polypeptide sequences such as those obtained by recombinant methods or chemical synthesis.
  • the analogue may contain non-naturally occurring amino acid residues.
  • the conservative substitution of amino acid residues refers to the substitution between amino acids with similar properties, for example, the substitution between polar amino acids (such as the substitution between glutamine and asparagine), the substitution between hydrophobic amino acids (such as the substitution among leucine, isoleucine, methionine and valine), as well as the substitution between amino acids with identical charges (such as the substitution among arginine, lysine and histidine, or the substitution between glutamic acid and aspartic acid), etc.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has conservative substitution of amino acids at only one amino acid site compared to the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as descried herein has conservative substitution of amino acids at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20 amino acid sites compared to the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein may also contain non-naturally occurring amino acids, including, for example, ⁇ -fluoro-alanine, 1 -methyl- histidine, ⁇ -methylene-glutamic acid, a-methyl-leucine, 4,5-dehydro-lysine, hydroxyproline, 3-fluoro-phenylalanine, 3-amino-tyrosine, 4-methyl-tryptophan, and the like.
  • non-naturally occurring amino acids including, for example, ⁇ -fluoro-alanine, 1 -methyl- histidine, ⁇ -methylene-glutamic acid, a-methyl-leucine, 4,5-dehydro-lysine, hydroxyproline, 3-fluoro-phenylalanine, 3-amino-tyrosine, 4-methyl-tryptophan, and the like.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of at least 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, or 150 amino acids. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of not more than 246, 245, 244, 243, 242, 241, 240, 235, 230, 225, 220, 215, 210, 205 or 200 amino acids. In some embodiments, the polypeptide as described herein comprises a portion or the full sequence of any one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of 50 to 100 amino acids, 60 to 100 amino acids, 70 to 100 amino acids, 80 to 100 amino acids, or 90 to 100 amino acids. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of 100 to 120 amino acids, 100 to 130 amino acids, 100 to 140 amino acids, 100 to 150 amino acids, 100 to 160 amino acids, 100 to 170 amino acids, 100 to 180 amino acids, 100 to 190 amino acids, 100 to 200 amino acids, 100 to 210 amino acids, 100 to 220 amino acids, 100 to 230 amino acids, or 100 to 240 amino acids.
  • the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of 100 to 151 amino acids, 100 to 152 amino acids, 100 to 153 amino acids, 100 to 154 amino acids, 100 to 155 amino acids, 100 to 156 amino acids, 100 to 157 amino acids, 100 to 158 amino acids, or 100 to 159 amino acids.
  • the number of amino acids of the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein can be equal to any integer value within the above numerical range, including the end-points of the range.
  • the polypeptide comprises a portion or the full sequence of any one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
  • cell-penetrating polypeptide as provided herein can be prepared by techniques known in the art such as chemical synthesis method and genetic engineering method.
  • Solid-polypeptide synthesis method mainly includes two methods, solid-phase synthesis and liquid-phase synthesis.
  • Solid-polypeptide synthesis method includes, for example, the Merrifield solid-phase synthesis, the details of which have been disclosed in "Merrifield, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85: 2149-2154” and “M. Bodanszky et al, Peptide Synthesis, John Wiley & Sons, Second Edition, 1976” and “J. Meienhofer, Hormonal Proteins and Peptides, Vol. 2, p. 46, Academic Press (New York), 1983", which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
  • the Merrifield solid-phase synthesis mainly includes the following steps: attaching the protected C-terminal amino acid of the peptide to the resin based on the amino acid sequences of the target protein. After attachment the resin is filtered, washed and the protecting group (e.g. t-butyloxycarbonyl) on the alpha amino group of the C-terminal amino acid is removed. The removal of this protecting group must take place, of course, without breaking the bond between that amino acid and the resin. To the resulting resin peptide is then coupled the penultimate C-terminal protected amino acid. This coupling takes place by the formation of an amide bond between the free carboxy group of the second amino acid and the amino group of the first amino acid attached to the resin.
  • the protecting group e.g. t-butyloxycarbonyl
  • the polypeptides disclosed herein can also be prepared by liquid-phase synthesis, for example, by the standard solution peptide synthesis, which has been disclosed in "E. Schroder and K. Kubke, The Peptides, Vol. 1, Academic Press (New York), 1965” in details, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Liquid-phase synthesis mainly includes coupling amino acids or peptide fragments step by step by chemical or enzymic methods that form amide bonds.
  • the genetic engineering method is a method of expressing a nucleic acid sequence encoding the corresponding polypeptide in an appropriate host cell to generate the corresponding polypeptide.
  • this method please refer to the "Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual” edited by Sambrook, et al. (Cold Spring Harbor, 1989).
  • polypeptides as disclosed herein may be modified by methods well-known in the art, including, but not limited to, PEGylation, glycosylation, amino terminal modification, fatty acylation, carboxyl terminal modification, phosphorylation, methylation, and the like.
  • the present application relates to a transport complex comprising a transport moiety and a cargo molecule.
  • transport moiety refers to a cell-penetrating polypeptide such as the cell-penetrating polypeptide as disclosed herein.
  • carrier molecule refers to the molecule or material to be transported to penetrate the cell.
  • the cargo molecule is a small molecule compound.
  • suitable small molecule compounds include, but are not limited to, chemical drugs, fluorescent molecules, and radioactive labels.
  • chemical drugs include, but are not limited to, antineoplastic drugs (such as paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, docetaxel, epirubicin, and the like), cardiovascular drugs (such as nitroglycerin, nifedipine, diltiazem hydrochloride, irbesartan, felodipine, atorvastatin, and the like), anti-inflammatory drugs (such as aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, nimesulide, celecoxib, magnesium salicylate, naproxen, and the like), antiviral drugs (such as interferon, ribavirin, acyclovir, and the like), digestive system drugs (such as cimetidine, olsalazine sodium, famotidine,
  • Fluorescent molecules include, but are not limited to, BODIPY and analogues thereof, rare-earth chelate, fluorescein and derivatives thereof, rhodamine and derivatives thereof, dansyls, and the like.
  • the radioactive labels include, but are not limited to, 3 H, 14 C, 35 S, 18 F, 32 P, 33 P, 125 1, 36 C1, and the like.
  • the cargo molecule is a biomacromolecule, including but not limited to, nucleic acid, polynucleotide, protein, polypeptide, carbohydrate, polysaccharide, glycoprotein, lipid, and the like.
  • the biomacromolecule includes, for example, enzyme, antibody, hormone, protein drug or prodrug, and the like.
  • the biomacromolecule is a polypeptide or polynucleotide.
  • the biomacromolecule is human interferon-a 2a, human growth hormone, or enhanced green fluorescent protein.
  • the transport moiety may be directly or indirectly, covalently or non-covalently linked to the cargo molecule in any appropriate way to form a transport complex.
  • the transport moiety is directly linked to the cargo molecule.
  • the transport moiety is linked to the cargo molecule through a linker.
  • the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule.
  • the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule through an ester bond, an ether bond, a phosphate ester bond, an amido bond, a peptide bond, an imidodicarbonic diamide bond, a carbon-sulfur bond, or a carbon-phosphor bond.
  • the transport moiety when both the transport moiety and the cargo molecule are polypeptides or proteins, the transport moiety is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the cargo molecule, or the transport moiety is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the cargo molecule.
  • a fusion protein i.e. a transport complex, can be formed by linking the encoding nucleic acid of the transport moiety to that of the cargo molecule, and then conducting recombination expression in appropriate expression vectors and expression cells.
  • the transport moiety is covalently or non-covalently linked to the cargo molecule through a linker.
  • linker refers to a structural unit that covalently or non-covalently links the transport moiety to the cargo molecule.
  • the linker is a polypeptide, for example, a flexible peptide.
  • flexible peptide refers to a peptide chain formed by interconnecting a certain number of glycine and serine. The spacial flexibility of glycine and serine can enable the free extension of transport moiety and cargo molecule, therefore, avoiding covering of the active sites.
  • the flexible peptides can be one or more linkers selected from the group consisting of GGSGSGGSGGSGSGG (SEQ ID NO: 9), GGGGSGGGGSGGGGS (SEQ ID NO: 10) or GS.
  • the peptide linkers may be inserted into the transport complex by gene recombination technology.
  • the nucleotide encoding sequence of the peptide linker can be operably linked to the encoding sequence of the cell-penetrating polypeptide disclosed herein and the encoding sequence of the cargo molecule, thereby allowing the production of a fusion protein containing a cell-penetrating polypeptide disclosed herein and a cargo molecule linked by a peptide linker through recombination expression.
  • the linker is a chemical coupling molecule or group (such as N-hydroxy succinimide (NHS), N-hydroxy sulfosuccinimide (Sulfo-NHS), sulfydryl- containing groups, glutaraldehyde).
  • one or more chemical coupling groups may be introduced into the transport moiety and the cargo molecule, and chemical coupling can be formed between the transport moiety and the cargo molecule by the reaction between the chemical coupling groups.
  • a transport moiety may be linked to a cargo molecule through a chemical linker (for example, the structures such as Ci-C 6 alkyl, C3-C6 naphthenic base, aryl or heteroaryl groups, and the like).
  • a chemical linker for example, the structures such as Ci-C 6 alkyl, C3-C6 naphthenic base, aryl or heteroaryl groups, and the like.
  • the transport moiety is EFEm
  • the cargo molecule is human interferon-a 2a
  • the EFE m is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the human interferon-a 2a through a linker to form a transport complex.
  • the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GGSGSGGSGGSGSGG (SEQ ID NO: 9).
  • the transport moiety is EFEm
  • the cargo molecule is human growth hormone
  • the EFEm is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the human growth hormone through a linker to form a transport complex.
  • the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GGGGSGGGGSGGGGS (SEQ ID NO: 10).
  • the transport moiety is EFEi_i 0 o
  • the cargo molecule is the enhanced green fluorescent protein
  • the EFEi_i 0 o is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the enhanced green fluorescent protein through a linker to form the transport complex.
  • the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GS.
  • the covalently linked linker can be selectively digested, thereby releasing free cargo molecules under certain specific conditions.
  • the specific condition can be a specific pH condition
  • the linker can be a cathepsin B-hydrolyzable linker, which can exist in a complete form under alkaline pH condition, but can be digested with cathepsin B under acidic condition (Walker MA, Dubowchik GM, Hofstead SJ, et al., Synthesis of an immuno conjugate of camptothecin. Bioorg Med Chem Lett, 2002, 12(2): 217-219).
  • the linker associates the cell-penetrating polypeptide to the cargo molecule through a non-covalent bond.
  • the non-covalent bond may be, for example, formed by ion-ion interaction, hydrophobic interaction or hydrogen bond.
  • the linker may be, for example, avidin and biotin, wherein, the cell-penetrating polypeptide can be conjugated with avidin, the cargo molecule can be conjugated with biotin, the cell-penetrating polypeptide and the cargo molecule can be covalently linked through the close non-covalent interaction between avidin and biotin.
  • nucleic acid which comprises the nucleic acid sequence of the polypeptide as disclosed herein.
  • nucleic acid or “polynucleotide” as used herein refers to ribonucleic acid (RNA), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or the mixture of ribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid, such as DNA-RNA hybrid.
  • Ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid may be single-stranded or double stranded DNA or RNA or DNA-RNA hybrid. Ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid may be linear or circular.
  • encode or "encoding” as used herein refers to being capable of being transcribed into mRNA and/or translated into peptides or proteins.
  • encoding sequence or “gene” refers to the polynucleotide sequence encoding mRNA, peptides or proteins. These two terms can be interchangeably used in the present application.
  • the isolated nucleic acid comprises any one of the nucleotide sequences as shown in SEQ ID NOs: 6-8.
  • SEQ ID NO: 5 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 1.
  • SEQ ID NO: 1 For the specific sequences, please refer to FIG. 26.
  • SEQ ID NO: 6 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 2.
  • SEQ ID NO: 2 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 2.
  • sequences please refer to FIG. 27.
  • SEQ ID NO: 7 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 3.
  • SEQ ID NO: 3 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 3.
  • SEQ ID NO: 8 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 4.
  • SEQ ID NO: 4 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 4.
  • FIG. 29 For the specific sequences, please refer to FIG. 29.
  • the isolated nucleic acid provided herein comprises a nucleotide sequence having at least 70% homology, for example, at least 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 99% homology to any one of the nucleotide sequences as shown in SEQ ID NOs: 5-8.
  • the present application provides the nucleotide sequences encoding SEQ ID NOs: 2, 3, or 4, but the nucleotide sequences may be different from any of the nucleotide sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 6-8 due to the degeneracy of genetic codes.
  • degeneracy of genetic codes refers to the phenomenon that one amino acid has two or more genetic codons.
  • proline has four synonym codons, CCU, CCC, CCA and CCG.
  • CCU CCU
  • CCC CCC
  • CCA CCG
  • CCG CCG
  • the codon that the biological cell prefers can be selected to obtain the corresponding coding sequence, and produce the polypeptide sequences (for example, SEQ ID NOs: 2-4) of the present application by recombinant expression.
  • the present application relates to a method of producing the polypeptide of the present application, comprising:
  • the expression vector may be, for example, DNA plasmids, bacterial plasmids, viruses, etc.
  • the non-limiting examples of expression vectors are, for example, those described in Paul et al, 2002, Nature Biotechnology, 19, 505; Miyagishi and Taira, 2002, Nature Biotechnology, 19, 497; Lee et al, 2002, Nature Biotechnology, 19, 500; and Novina et al, 2002, Nature Medicine, advance online publication doi: 10.1038/nm725.
  • the expression vectors can further contain promoters operably linked to the coding sequence of the polypeptide to ensure that the promoters can initiate the expression of the coding sequence after the expression vector entering into the host cell.
  • the expression vector can be introduced into the host cell by appropriate methods, including, but not limited to, calcium phosphate transfection, lipofection transfection, electroporation transfection, bacterial heat shock, and the like.
  • appropriate methods including, but not limited to, calcium phosphate transfection, lipofection transfection, electroporation transfection, bacterial heat shock, and the like.
  • the host cells can be eukaryotic cells or prokaryotic cells.
  • Appropriate eukaryotic cells may include, for example, mammalian cells such as the Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO).
  • Appropriate prokaryotic cells may include, for example, bacteria such as Escherichia Coli.
  • the present application relates to use of the cell-penetrating polypeptide for delivering a cargo molecule to a cell in a subject, which comprises administering the subject with a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety containing the cell-penetrating polypeptide, and the cargo molecule.
  • the term "subject" as used herein refers to human and non-human animals.
  • Non-human animals include all vertebrates, for example, mammals and non-mammals.
  • the subject may also be a livestock animal such as, cattle, swine, sheep, poultry and horse, or domestic animal such as dog and cat.
  • the subject may be male or female, may be elderly, and may be an adult, adolescent, child, or infant.
  • a human subject may be Caucasian, African, Asian, Semitic, or other racial backgrounds, or a mixture of such racial backgrounds.
  • the present application relates to a pharmaceutical composition, comprising the transport complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
  • pharmaceutically acceptable carrier refers to a pharmaceutically acceptable solvent, suspending agent or any other pharmacologically inert vehicle for delivering a transport complex to a subject, which does not interfere with the structure and properties of the transport complex.
  • Certain of such carriers enable the transport complex to be formulated as, for example, tablets, pills, capsules, liquids, gels, syrups, slurries, suspensions and pastilles, for oral ingestion by a subject.
  • Certain of such carriers can enable the transport complex to be formulated as injections, infusions or local administration.
  • the pharmaceutically acceptable carriers for use in the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed herein may include, but are not limited to, for example, pharmaceutically acceptable liquids, gels, or solid carriers, aqueous vehicles (such as sodium chloride injection, Ringer's injection, isotonic dextrose injection, sterile water injection, or dextrose and lactated Ringer's injection), nonaqueous vehicles (such as fixed oils of vegetable origin, cottonseed oil, corn oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil), antimicrobial agents, isotonic agents (such as sodium chloride or dextrose), buffers (such as phosphate or citrate buffers), antioxidants (such as sodium bisulfate), anesthetics (such as procaine hydrochloride), suspending/dispending agents (such as sodium carboxymethylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, or polyvinylpyrrolidone), chelating agents (such as EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) or EGTA (ethylene glycol)
  • the pharmaceutical composition is oral formulation.
  • Oral formulations include, but not limited to, capsules, cachets, pills, tablets, lozenges (using a flavored basis, usually sucrose and acacia or tragacanth), powders, granules, or as a solution or a suspension in an aqueous or non-aqueous liquid, or as an oil-in-water or water-in-oil liquid emulsion, or as an elixir or syrup, or as pastilles (using an insert base, such as gelatin and glycerin, or sucrose and acacia) and/or as mouth washes and the like.
  • the transport complex is mixed with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, such as sodium citrate or dicalcium phosphate, and/or any of the followings: (1) fillers or extenders, such as starches, lactose, sucrose, glucose, mannitol, and/or silicic acid; (2) binders, such as carboxymethylcellulose, alginates, gelatin, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, sucrose and/or acacia; (3) humectants, such as glycerol; (4) disintegrating agents, such as agar-agar, calcium carbonate, potato or tapioca starch, alginic acid, certain silicates, and sodium carbonate; (5) solution retarding agents, such as paraffin; (6) absorption accelerators, such as quaternary ammonium compounds; (7) wetting agents, such as acety
  • Liquid dosage forms for oral administration include pharmaceutically acceptable emulsions, microemulsions, solutions, suspensions, syrups and elixirs.
  • the liquid dosage forms may contain inert diluents commonly used in the art, such as, water or other solvents, solubilizing agents and emulsifiers, such as ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl carbonate, ethyl acetate, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, propylene glycol, 1,3-butylene glycol, oils (in particular, cottonseed, groundnut, corn, olive, castor and sesame oils), glycerol, tetrahydro fur fury 1 alcohol, polyethylene glycols and fatty acid esters of sorbitan, and mixtures thereof.
  • the oral compositions can also include adjuvants such as wetting agents, emulsifying and suspend
  • the pharmaceutical composition is an injection formulation.
  • the injection formulations include sterile water solutions or dispersions, suspensions or emulsions. In all cases, the injection formulation should be sterile and shall be fluid for easy injection. It should be stable under the conditions of manufacture and storage and must be preserved against the contaminating action of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi.
  • the carrier can be a solvent or dispersion medium containing, for example, water, ethanol, polyol (for example, glycerol, propylene glycol, and liquid polyethylene glycol, and the like), and suitable mixtures thereof and/or vegetable oils.
  • the injection formulation should maintain appropriate fluidity
  • the appropriate fluidity can be maintained, for example, by the use of a coating such as lecithin, by the use of surfactants, and the like.
  • Prevention of the action of microorganisms can be achieved by various antibacterial and antifungal agents, for example, parabens, chlorobutanol, phenol, sorbic acid, thimerosal, and the like.
  • the pharmaceutical compositions are mouth spray formulations or nasal spray formulations.
  • the spray formulations include, but not limited to, aqueous aerosols, nonaqueous suspensions, lipidosome formulations or solid granular preparations, and the like.
  • Aqueous aerosols are prepared by mixing aqueous solutions or suspensions of agents and conventional pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and stabilizers.
  • the carriers and stabilizers are changed according to the requirements of specific compounds, but in general, they include nonionic surfactants (Tweens or polyethylene glycol), oleic acid, lecithin, amino acids such as glycine, buffer solution, salts, sugar or sugar alcohol.
  • Aerosols are generally prepared by isotonic solutions, and can be delivered by sprayers.
  • the pharmaceutical composition can be used by mixing with one or more other drugs.
  • the pharmaceutical composition comprises at least one other drug.
  • the other drugs are antineoplastic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, antiviral drugs, digestive system drugs, nervous system drugs, respiratory system drugs, immune system drugs, dermatologic drugs, and the like.
  • the pharmaceutical compositions can be administered to a subject by appropriate routes, including without limitation, oral, injection (such as intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intracutaneous, intracardiac, intrathecal, intrapleural, intraperitoneal injection, and the like), mucosal (such as nasal, intraoral administration, and the like), sublingual, rectal, percutaneous, intraocular, and pulmonary administration.
  • injection such as intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intracutaneous, intracardiac, intrathecal, intrapleural, intraperitoneal injection, and the like
  • mucosal such as nasal, intraoral administration, and the like
  • sublingual, rectal percutaneous, intraocular, and pulmonary administration.
  • the drug compositions can be administered orally.
  • the present application relates to a method of delivering a cargo molecule, for example, a drug, across a cell membrane in a subject, which comprises administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety consisting of the polypeptide and the cargo molecule, and pharmaceutically acceptable carriers.
  • a cargo molecule for example, a drug
  • a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety consisting of the polypeptide and the cargo molecule, and pharmaceutically acceptable carriers.
  • the method comprises the administration of therapeutically effective amount of pharmaceutical compositions to a subject.
  • therapeutically effective amount refers to the amount of the pharmaceutical composition which achieves a therapeutic effect by inhibiting a disease or disorder in a subject, or by prophylactically inhibiting or preventing the onset of a disease or disorder.
  • a therapeutically effective amount may be the amount of the pharmaceutical composition which relieves to some extent one or more symptoms of a disease or disorder in a subject; returns to normal either partially or completely one or more physiological or biochemical parameters associated with or causative of the disease or disorder; and/or reduces the likelihood of the onset of the disease or disorder.
  • the present application relates to use of the pharmaceutical composition in treating or preventing a disease or disorder, including but not limited to, diabetes (type I and type II), arrhythmia, atherosis, heart failure, circulatory disturbance, arthritis, hepatitis, cancer, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, pulmonary diseases, and the like.
  • a disease or disorder including but not limited to, diabetes (type I and type II), arrhythmia, atherosis, heart failure, circulatory disturbance, arthritis, hepatitis, cancer, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, pulmonary diseases, and the like.
  • EFE-P1 ' forward primer: 5' CATGGAACTTCCTCCCGA (SEQ ID NO: 34)
  • EFE-P2' reverse primer: 5' ATCACCAACAACTAAACCG (SEQ ID NO: 35)
  • EFE gene segments were obtained by PCR amplification.
  • the EFE gene segments were ligated into a pUCm-T vector (purchased from Sangon Biotech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., please refer to FIG. 30 for the plasmid map).
  • the ligated vector was then transformed into E. Coli JM109. Positive clones were selected by enzyme digestion, which determined the inserted EFE gene sequence.
  • the sequencing results confirmed that the cloned EFE genes contained an open reading frame of 741bp, encoding a polypeptide chain of 246 amino acids (Hu Yan, et al, Journal of Wuhan University (Natural Science Edition), 2004, 50: 211).
  • EFE-Pl forward primer: 5 'GCCGAATTCATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA (SEQ ID NO: 11) (the underlined part is an EcoRI enzyme digestion site);
  • EFEm-P2 reverse primer: 5'CTGTCCGGAGTCTCTGTCGT (SEQ ID NO: 12) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 192 nd site);
  • EFEm-P3 forward primer: 5 ' ACGAC AGAGACTCCGGAC AG (SEQ ID NO: 13) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 192 nd site);
  • EFEm-P4 reverse primer:: 5 'AGCTCC ACC AATTCCCC AAG (SEQ ID NO: 14) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 221 st site);
  • EFEm-P5 forward primer: 5'CTTGGGGAATTGGTGGAGCT (SEQ ID NO: 15) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 221 st site);
  • EFE-P6 reverse primer: 5'GCGCTCGAGTTAGTTGTTGGTGATGAT (SEQ ID NO: 16) (the underlined part is an Xhol enzyme digestion site).
  • EFEm genes were amplified by overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method by taking EFE-Pl, EFEm-P2, EFEm-P3, EFEm-P4, EFEm-P5 and EFE-P6 as primers. 2 microliters of forward and reverse primers were used, respectively.
  • the reaction condition is: pre-denaturation for five minutes under 95°C, denaturation for 45 seconds under 94°C, annealing for 45 seconds under 55°C, extension for 90 seconds under 72°C, repeat for 30 cycles, and extension for 10 minutes under 72°C.
  • the amplified products were detected by 1% agarose electrophoresis, and the band with a molecular weight of 759bp could be observed (FIG. 2). PCR products were purified by gel recovery method.
  • PCR products and plasmid pET-32a (purchased from Invitrogen Inc., the plasmid map is shown in FIG. 1) were digested with EcoRI and Xhol. The digested products were recovered and ligated by T4 DNA ligase to obtain plasmid pET-32a-EFEm. The plasmid pET-32a-EFEm was used to transform E. Coli JM109 strain competent cells.
  • the JM109 competent cells were prepared by CaCl 2 method and coated on an LB basic culture medium agar plate (containing 10 g/L peptone, 5 g/L yeast powder, 10 g/L NaCl, 15 g/L agar powder, pH 7.0) containing ampicillin (Amp) 60 mg/L .
  • Plasmid pET-32a-EFEm was extracted by alkaline lysis in a small amount, and the positive clones were identified by enzyme digestion (FIG. 2).
  • the positive clones were identified by gene sequence determination of plasmid, and confirmed that the Cys at the 192 nd and 221 st sites of the synthesized EFEm gene sequence was mutated into Gly.
  • Plasmid pET-32a-EFEm was extracted to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) strain competent cells prepared by CaCl 2 method to obtain the expression strain E.coli BL21(DE3) / pET32a-EFEm.
  • the positive clone was identified by PCR using the aforementioned EFE-P1 and EFE-P6 primers.
  • the identified positive clone was inoculated in 20 ml of LB culture medium containing 100 mg/L Amp, and shake cultured overnight under 37°C. The next day, 1 ml of culture was inoculated in 20 ml of LB culture containing Amp with the same concentration, shake cultured under 37°C till the OD600 value is about 0.6. IPTG was added to a final concentration of 1.0 mmol/L to conduct induction expression for 4 hours under 37°C.
  • FIG. 3 The results of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) are shown in FIG. 3. EFEm was expressed in a large amount. Lane 3 in the figure is the assay result of the induced pET-32a-EFEm/BL21 (DE3) strain. The molecular weight as shown also conforms to the theoretical molecular weight of 46.8KD of EFEm linked to partial plasmid pET-32a expression fragments.
  • the bacteria mass was collected from the induced expression by centrifugation. 30 ml of lysis buffer (lOmM Tris.HCl containing lOOmM NaCl) was added per gram of bacteria to resuspend the bacteria pellet. The bacteria pellet underwent the freeze-thaw cycles for three times. Then ultrasonic disruption of the bacteria (4°C, work for 3 seconds with an interval of 3 seconds) was performed till the bacterial solution became clear. The supernatant and precipitate were collected respectively after the centrifugation.
  • lysis buffer lOmM Tris.HCl containing lOOmM NaCl
  • the precipitate (inclusion body) portion was washed twice with washing solution containing 2M urea (2M urea, 1.15g Na 2 HP0 4 , 0.2g KH 2 P0 4 ,8g NaCl, add double distilled water to 1L, pH8.0), and dissolved in denaturing solution containing 8M urea, loaded to Ni-NTA Superflow affinity column.
  • the urea concentration in the washing solution was reduced linearly to elute and recycle the renatured EFEm.
  • Fibrin plate assay was adopted for the fibrinolysis activity analysis.
  • the evenly dissolved agarose solution was cooled and maintained at 45°C.
  • Appropriate amounts of bovine profibrinolysin, bovine fibrinogen and bovine thrombin were added to prepare fibrin plates.
  • Coli expression strains containing plasmid pGEM-T-EFE, the expression purification method is the same as described above
  • Coli were dotted on the fibrin plate, respectively, kept under 37°C for 12h and then observe the dissolving circle of the fibrin.
  • a and E are EFE standard and purified soluble EFE protein expressed by E. Coli, respectively; B indicates purified soluble EFEm protein; C indicates renatured purified EFEm inclusion body; D indicates purified EFEm inclusion body prior to renaturation.
  • the results indicate that, the EFE standard and the purified soluble EFE protein expressed by E. Coli show obvious fibrinolysis activity; while various forms of EFEm samples do not produce visible transparent zones, suggesting that EFEm lacks fibrinolysis activity.
  • mice 15 Kunming mice (with an average weight of 20g, evenly composed of males and females) were randomly divided into 5 groups: normal saline, purified soluble EFE expressed by E. Coli, purified soluble EFEm, renatured EFEm inclusion body, and EFEm inclusion body, three mice for each group. After fasting for 36 hours, the mice were gavaged with 1 mL of the test samples (all the samples were dissolved in normal saline, 0.5 mg/ml).
  • ELISA sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
  • EFEm ELISA results are shown in Table 1 below. Except for the normal saline group, the results of all the other groups are positive. The cell-penetrating activity of EFEm is stronger than EFE. The cell-penetrating activity signals of three different forms of EFEm protein, i.e., inclusion body, renatured inclusion body, and soluble protein, increase successively. The test results suggest that EFEm, comparing with EFE, not only retains, but also has enhanced the cell-penetrating activity.
  • the plasmid containing human IFN a 2a gene fragments (pshuttle-IFN a 2a, purchased from Shanghai Ruijie Biotech Co., Ltd.) was used as a DNA template, two specific primers were designed according to the human IFN a 2a gene sequence:
  • IFN a 2a upstream primer forward primer
  • IFN a 2a downstream primer reverse primer
  • ACCGGATCCAGAACCACCCTGGGATGCTCTTCGACCTCGAAAC reverse primer
  • ACCGGATCCAGAACCACCCTGGGATGCTCTTCGACCTCGAAAC reverse primer
  • IFN a 2a gene fragments were obtained by PCR amplification, and purified by gel electrophoresis, then digested with Ndel/BamHI, and linked to plasmid pET22b, which was also digested with Ndel/BamHI, to obtain the recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a.
  • the recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a was used to transform E.Coli JM109, which was cultured in LB basic culture medium agar plate containing ampicillin, and the positive clones were selected. Plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a was extracted to perform enzyme digestion identification.
  • the plasmid map of pET22b is shown in FIG. 6. IFN a 2a was inserted between BamHI(198) and Ndel(288), the enzyme digestion identification results are shown in FIG. 7, wherein, lane 3 indicates IFN a 2a polypeptide fragments.
  • EFEm upstream primer P 1 forward primer
  • EFEm downstream primer P2 reverse primer
  • EFEm fragments were amplified by PCR using the above EFEm primers PI and P2.
  • the PCR products and pET22b-IFN a 2a were double digested with BamHI and Xhol, and the digested EFEm fragments and pET22b- IFN a 2a are recycled by gel electrophoresis, and ligated together at the BamHI and Xhol sites to form the recombinant plasmid pET22b- IFN a 2a-EFEm, wherein, EFEm was linked to the carboxyl terminal of IFN a 2a through a linking peptide.
  • the recombinant plasmid pET22b- IFN a 2a-EFEm was used to transform E. Coli JM109, which was cultured in LB culture plate containing ampicillin, and the positive clones were selected.
  • the recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm was extracted to perform enzyme digestion identification.
  • the enzyme digestion identification map is shown in FIG. 8, wherein, lane 5 is the recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • Plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm was used to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) to obtain the bacteria E. Coli BL21 (DE3)/ pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm for genetic expression of the fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • the identified positive clone was inoculated in 20 mL of LB culture containing lOOug/ml ampicillin (Amp), and underwent shake culture overnight under 37°C. The next day, 1 ml of culture was inoculated in 20 ml of LB culture containing Amp with the same concentration, underwent shake culture under 37°C till the OD 6 oo value is about 0.6, IPTG with a final concentration of 1.0 mmol/L was added to conduct induction expression for 4 hours under 37°C. The culture was centrifuged for lOmin under 4°C at 12000g.
  • the bacteria was collected and resuspended with lOmM PBS (Na 2 HP0 4 1.15g, KH 2 P0 4 0.2g, NaCl 8g, dilute with double distilled water to 1L, pH8.0), disrupted with ultrasonic, centrifuged. The supernatant and precipitate were collected to detect the expression of target protein by SDS-PAGE.
  • lanes 4 and 5 are the renaturation purification results of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • the main expression form of IFN a 2a-EFEm is inclusion body, and a molecular weight of 46KD conforms to its theoretical value.
  • 1L of the bacteria fermentation liquid was prepared according to the above method of inducible expression. The bacterial mass was collected and weighted. 30 mL of lysis buffer (20mM Tris-HCl, 500mM NaCl was dissolved in 400 mL of double distilled water (ddH 2 0), pH was adjusted to 7.9, diluted with ddH 2 0 to the final volume of 500 mL) was added per gram of wet bacteria. The bacteria underwent freeze-thaw cycles for three times under -20°C. Then ultrasonic disruption (4°C, work for 3 seconds with an interval of 3 seconds) was performed till the bacterial solution became clear. The disrupted bacterial solution was centrifuged at lOOOOrpm for 20min under 4°C. The supernatant and precipitate were collected respectively.
  • lysis buffer 20mM Tris-HCl, 500mM NaCl was dissolved in 400 mL of double distilled water (ddH 2 0), pH was adjusted to 7.9, diluted with d
  • lg of precipitate was added into 20 mL of inclusion body washing solution (2M urea, 1.15g Na 2 HP0 4 , 0.2g KH 2 P0 4 , 8g NaCl, add double distilled water to 1L, pH8.0), sufficiently washed with a sonicator, centrifuged for lOmin under 4°C at lOOOOrpm, and the precipitates were collected.
  • the washed inclusion body was dissolved with 10 ml of lysis buffer (50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 8M urea, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0) on ice overnight.
  • the lysate was centrifuged for lOmin at 12000rpm, then the precipitates were discarded, and the supernatant was diluted in protein renaturation solution (50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 2M urea, 0.5M L-Arg, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0) with a ratio of 1 :20, renatured overnight at 4°C.
  • protein renaturation solution 50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 2M urea, 0.5M L-Arg, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0
  • the next day the renaturation solution was put into a dialysis bag and dialyzed in the dialysis solution (50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0) for 24h, during which the dialysis solution was changed twice.
  • the protein was concentrated by polyethylene glycol, and centrifuged for lOmin at 12000rpm. The obtained supernatant was renatured protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • the renaturation purification results of the protein were detected by SDS-PAGE and shown in FIG. 9, wherein, lanes 4 and 5 were the renaturation purification results of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
  • VSV vesicular stomatitis virus
  • HeLa HeLa cell system
  • Interferon IFN standard is used as a standard to calculate the antiviral titer of the protein IFN a 2a -EFEm, and the results are shown in FIG. 10.
  • the antiviral activity of interferon IFN standard indicated by a box in FIG. 10 is l .OIU/ml, and the concentration of IFN a 2a - EFEm (indicated by a box) with the same antiviral activity is 4 "10 mg/ml.
  • protein IFN-a2a-EFEm (lmg/ml) corresponds to titer 4 10 IU/mg, i.e., the antiviral titer of IFN a 2a -EFEm is about 1.0 xl0 6 IU/mg.
  • the molecular weight of recombinant human IFN-a 2a is 19KD, and its antiviral specific activity is generally l .Ox 10 8 IU/mg.
  • IFN a 2a - EFEm is a fusion protein with a large molecular weight of 46KD, and only preliminary renaturation purification is performed for the fusion protein in this example, IFN a 2a - EFEm prepared by the present application has a normal antiviral activity of interferon-a.
  • fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm in rabbits: the concentration of renatured and concentrated protein IFN a 2a - EFEm was adjusted to 1 mg/ml with PBS (pH7.4), adsorbed with corn starch under 25°C, dried, and filled in enteric capsules after sieving. IFN a 2a- EFEm protein capsules were lavaged in two male New Zealand white rabbits. Vein blood was collected from the ears of the mice at lh, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h and 6h, respectively. Anti- coagulation treatment with 0.109M sodium citrate was performed for the collected blood in a ratio of 1 :9.
  • the blood was centrifuged for lOmin at a rate of 3000rpm, clear serum was diluted to twice its original volume with PBS (pH 7.4).
  • IFN a 2a in serum was detected by human interferon-a 2a enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kit (purchased from Rapidbio Inc.). The results were shown in FIG. 11.
  • Reaction 1 EFEm gene fragments were amplified by fl and rl using pMD-EFEm containing the EFEm gene described in Example 1 as the template;
  • Reaction 2 EFEm with a linker sequence at the 3 '-terminal was amplified by fl and r2 using the product of Reaction 1 as the template;
  • Reaction 3 hGH gene was amplified by f3 and r3 using plasmid pMD-hGH (preserved in our laboratory) containing the hGH gene as the template;
  • Reaction 4 fusion gene EFEm-hGH was amplified by fl and r3 using the products of Reaction 2 and Reaction 3 as mixed templates.
  • the final PCR product has a length of about 1.37kb.
  • the PCR product was linked to plasmid pMD-T (purchased from Takara Biotechnology (Dalian) Co., Ltd., the plasmid map is shown in FIG. 31) to obtain recombinant plasmid pMD-EFEm-hGH, which was used to transform E. Coli JM109. Positive clones were selected, and plasmid pMD-EFEm-hGH was extracted for enzyme digestion identification, the enzyme digestion identification map is shown in FIG. 12, wherein, lane 4 shows PCR products of EFEm-hGH.
  • the correct products were then confirmed by sequencing.
  • the length of fusion gene of EFEm-hGH was 1362bp, encoding 453 amino acids, the theoretical molecular weight was about 50KD.
  • the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 26) of fusion protein EFEm-hGH is shown in FIG. 13.
  • SEQ ID NO: 27 is the nucleic acid encoding the fusion protein EFEm-hGH as shown in SEQ ID NO: 26, its specific sequence is shown in FIG. 13.
  • SEQ ID NO: 26 The underlined part in SEQ ID NO: 26 is the linker sequence between EFEm and hGH, the nucleic acid sequence of the linker is as follows:
  • Plasmids pMD-EFEm-hGH and pET22b were digested with Mscl and Xhol, respectively. EFEm-hGH gene fragments and pET22b were recycled and linked by enzymes to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) to obtain genetic expression bacteria E. Coli BL21 (DE3)/pET22b-EFEm-hGH of fusion protein EFEm-hGH. The specific methods of inoculation expression of EFEm-hGH are shown in Example 2 "2. Expression of IFN a 2a-EFEm".
  • lane 4 shows the expression result of IPTG-induced E. Coli BL21/pET22b-EFEm-hGH (BL21) bacteria solution.
  • the main expression form of EFEm-hGH is inclusion body, the molecular weight is about 50KD, which conforms to its theoretical value.
  • renaturation purification result of protein is determined by SDS-PAGE, and shown in FIG. 15, wherein, lane 2 shows the renaturation and purification result of EFEm-hGH.
  • Example 2 The specific methods of intestinal activity analysis of EFEm-hGH are shown in Example 2 "4. Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis”.
  • EFEi_i 59 The specific method for constructing genetically engineered bacteria for expressing EFEi_i 59 is the same as Example 1 except for the primers.
  • the two primers designed for the construction of EFEi_i 59 are as follows:
  • EFE-P1 forward primer
  • 5 'GCCGAATTCATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA 3' SEQ ID NO: 11
  • EFEi_i 59-P2 reverse primer
  • EFEi_i 59 genes were amplified by PCR. 1% agarose gel electrophoresis was performed for the amplified products, a band of about 498bp could be found, which conformed to the size of expected fragments, as shown in FIG. 17, wherein, lane 2 shows the PCR products of EFEi_i 59 .
  • EFEi_i 59 The PCR products of EFEi_i 59 were double digested with EcoRI and Xhol, and recovered by gel electrophoresis, then ligated to pET-32a fragments, which were also digested and recovered in the same way, to form a recombinant plasmid pET-32a- EFEi_i 59 to transform E. Coli JM109.
  • the positive clones were identified by PCR screening using the above two primers. Plasmid pET-32a- EFEi_i 59 was extracted from positive clones, and identified by double enzyme digestion of EcoR I and Xho I (FIG.
  • lane 1 shows the EcoR I/Xho I double enzyme digestion results of plasmid pET-32a-EFEi_i 59. Positive clones were used to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) to construct genetically engineered bacteria E.coli BL21(DE3)/ pET-32a- EFEi_i 59 for EFEi_i 59 expression.
  • EFEi_i s 9 The specific procedures for extraction and purification of EFEi_i s 9 are shown in Example 1 .
  • the results of SDS-PAGE suggest that the main expression form of EFEi_i 59 is soluble expression, as shown in FIG. 18, wherein, lane 7 indicates that the expression products of EFEi_i 59 are mainly present in the supernatant of disrupted bacteria.
  • Example 1 The specific procedures for fibrinolysis activity analysis of EFEi_i 59 are shown in Example 1 .
  • the analysis results are shown in FIG. 20, wherein, c is soluble purified protein EFEi_i 59 , which does not produce visible transparent zones in its surroundings, suggesting that EFE 1-159 does not have fibrinolysis activity.
  • Example 1 The specific procedures for performing intestinal penetration activity analysis of EFEi _i s 9 are shown in Example 1 .
  • the analysis results of intestinal penetration activity of EFE i_is 9 are shown in Table 2 as below.
  • EFEi_i 0 o-EGFP The specific method of gene synthesis of EFEi_i 0 o-EGFP is the same as Example 2 except for the primers.
  • the primers used for amplifying amino acid residues 1 to 100 at the amino terminal of EFE gene are:
  • ATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA SEQ ID NO: 30 (the underline indicates Xhol enzyme digestion site, the box indicates EcoRI enzyme digestion site);
  • P2 reverse primer: GCCGGGATCCAACGTCGTTCTCTAGG (SEQ ID NO : 3 1 ) (the underline indicates BamHI enzyme digestion site)
  • the primers used for amplifying enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) are:
  • GCCGGGATCCATGGTGAGCAAGGGGCGAGGAGCTGTT (SEQ ID NO : 32) (the underline indicates BamHI enzyme digestion site);
  • GCCGTCTAGATTACTGTACAGCTCGTCCATCGCCGA (SEQ ID NO : 33) (the underline indicates Xbal enzyme digestion site).
  • EFEi_i 0 o and EGFP were amplified by PCR using the plasmids containing EFE and EGFP genes as templates (pGEM-EFE and pEGFP-N3, both preserved in our laboratory).
  • PCR products were recovered by gel electrophoresis, and ligated to pGEM-T vector, respectively.
  • the ligated product transformed E. coli JM109 competent cells.
  • the positive clones were identified by PCR and restriction enzyme digestion.
  • Recombinant plasmids pGEM-T- EFEi_ioo and pGEM-T-EGFP were extracted by alkaline lysis method in a small amount.
  • pGEM-T- EFEPMi_i 00 and pGEM-T-EGFP were digested with BamHI and Pstl.
  • the EGFP fragments were ligated to the cleaved pGEM-T-EFEi_ioo to obtained the recombinant plasmid pGEM-T-EFEi_ioo -EGFP.
  • pGEM-T-EFEi_ioo -EGFP and pET32a+ were digested with EcoRI and Notl.
  • the EFEi_ioo -EGFP fragments were ligated to the expression vector and then transformed into E. Coli BL21 (DE3) competent cells. Positive clones were identified to obtain E. Coli BL21 (DE3)/pET32a-EFEi_ioo-EGFP genetically engineered bacteria for expression.
  • E. Coli BL21(DE3)/pET32a -EFEi_i 00 -EGFP was inoculated in 20 mL of LB culture medium (Amp + ), and cultured overnight under 37°C, then 500 was transferred to another 20 mL of 2> ⁇ YT culture medium (Amp + ), IPTG was added when OD 6 oo is about 0.6 to the final concentration of 1 mM to induce the expression of the target protein.
  • the bacteria were collected by centrifugation after four-hour induction.
  • Sandwich ELISA was used to detect the EFE in the serum of mice that had received intraperitoneal injection (the coating antibody was polyclonal anti-EFE IgGs, the dilution ratio was 1 : 500; the secondary antibody was HRP cross-linked polyclonal anti-EFE IgGs, and the dilution ratio was 1 : 100), the obtained data trend was comparable to FIG. 24.

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Abstract

Provided are a cell-penetrating polypeptide, a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, a complex of the polypeptide, a pharmaceutical composition comprising the polypeptide, a method of producing the polypeptide, as well as use of such polypeptide, nucleic acid, complex and pharmaceutical composition. Use of the cell-penetrating polypeptide in drug delivery, for example, oral administration is also provided.

Description

Cell-Penetrating Polypeptides and Uses Thereof in Drug Delivery
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[001] The present application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application Number 201310114208.1, filed on April 3, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[002] The present application relates to cell-penetrating polypeptides and uses thereof in drug delivery.
BACKGROUND
[003] With the development of biotechnology, protein drugs are emerging and more and more often used in clinicals for the treatment of various diseases, and produce remarkable results. However, due to various reasons such as molecular weight, charge, lipid solubility, etc., most of the protein drugs are difficult to be introduced into cells. In general, only those liposoluble polypeptides with small molecular weight (for example, within 600 Daltons) can be introduced into cells by methods of active transportation and free diffusion. Therefore, currently almost all the protein drugs are administered by injection. The bottleneck for extensive use of such drugs is to find out how to establish a high-efficiency delivery route, enabling the effective administration, for example, oral administration, of protein drugs.
[004] The main absorbing barriers of oral administration are gastrointestinal enzymes barrier and mucosal physical barrier. The degradation of gastric acid and proteases within the gastrointestinal tract is one of the key factors that result in difficult oral absorption of protein drugs. The currently available enteric coating technique can partially solve this problem. In addition, most of the protein drugs with large molecular weight and poor lipid solubility cannot achieve intestinal absorption due to the low permeability of gastrointestinal mucous membrane (Goldberg M. et al, Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2003, 2:289).
[005] For many years, scientists have been trying a variety of methods to prompt the absorption of protein drugs in the intestinal mucosa, including using various absorption enhancers (Agarwal, V. et al, Int. J. Pharm. 2001, 225:31; Agarwal V. et al, J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 2001, 53: 1131; Marschiitz, M. K. et al, Pharm. Res. 2000, 17: 468), protease inhibitors (Takeuchi H. et al, Pharm. Res. 1996, 13:896; Bernkop-Schnurch A. et al, J. Control. Release, 2001, 50:215; Lehr CM. et al, J. Control. Release, 2000, 65: 19, Lowman, A.M. et al, J. Pharm. Sci. 1999, 88:933; Morishita M. J. Control.Release 2006, 110:587), polymers capable of being adsorbed to mucous membranes (Watnasirichaikull S., J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 2002, 54:473; Kisel M. A. et al, Int. J. Pharm. 2002, 16 : 105; Sajeesh S. et al, J. Biomed. Mater. Res. B. Appl. Biomater. 2005, 76:298) and some other carrier-mediated transport systems such as microemulsion, lipidosome, nano-particles, etc. (Tozaki H. et al, J. Pharm. Sci. 2001, 90:89; Sarciaux J. M. et al, Int. J. Pharm. 1995, 120: 127; Hillery A. M. et al, J. Drug Target. 1994, 2: 151; Xia C.Q. et al, J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 2000, 295:594). Although certain success has been achieved in the laboratory, these methods had problems of low bioavailability or obvious adverse effects when applied in clinical research, resulting in little advantage over the other dosage forms, for example, injections, and thus they are rarely used in clinicals.
[006] In the last two decades, some amino acid sequences with cell-penetrating function were successively discovered. Those amino acid sequences have a length of less than 20 amino acids, and are named as Cell Penetrating Peptides (CPPs) or Protein Transduction Domain (PTD). They are capable of mediating the transmembrane transport of other macromolecule proteins or polypeptides, and have the activity of protein transduction. It seems that the discovery of these CPPs or PTD provides a novel way for the transduction absorption of macromolecules (Foged, C. et al, Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. 2008, 5: 105).
[007] Earthworm fibrinolytic enzyme (EFE), also known as lumbrukinase, is a proteolytic enzyme with fibrinolysis activity extracted from earthworms. It can activate plasminogen to become plasmin and/or directly hydrolyze fibrin. Studies have shown that EFE is an orally effective thrombolytic drug, which can be used to prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and pulmonary embolism (Tang Yajuan, et al, Capital Medicine, 03: 39, 2011). In 2001, Qiao et al. extracted earthworm fibrinolytic enzyme F-III-1 from Lumbricus rubellus, and the test results indicate that 10% to 15% of EFE can pass through the intestinal epithelial cells in the form of complete molecules and release into blood; immunohistochemical test can detect EFE in intestinal epithelial cells (Qiao Fan et al, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2001, 1526:286-292), indicating that the full-length EFE has certain cell-penetrating activities. These test results suggested that EFE might be used as a carrier for bringing other peptide drug into blood. However, at the same time, the full-length EFE also has fibrinolysis activity, which may significantly limit its clinical application. The additional undesirable fibrinolysis activity of EFE may cause serious clinical side effects if it is used as a carrier for a protein drug.
[008] More Cell Penetrating Peptides (CPPs) or Protein Transduction Domain (PTD) capable of providing cell-penetrating function is still desirable in the art in order to provide better cell-penetrating function.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[009] The present application relates to a cell-penetrating polypeptide, a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, a complex of the polypeptide and pharmaceutical composition comprising the polypeptide, a method of producing the polypeptide, as well as use of such polypeptide, nucleic acid, complex and pharmaceutical composition.
[010] In one aspect, the present application relates to an isolated cell-penetrating polypeptide, which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an amino acid sequence having at least 70%>, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to SEQ ID NO: 2, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. [Oil] In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein contains at least 100 to 246 amino acids, or at least 100 to 159 amino acids. In some embodiments, the polypeptide as described herein contains any one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
[012] In another aspect, the present application relates to a transport complex, which comprises a transport moiety comprising a cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein, and a cargo molecule. In some embodiments, the cargo molecule can be a chemical compound or a bio macro molecule (for example, a polypeptide or polynucleotide).
[013] In some embodiments, the transport moiety can be linked to the cargo molecule directly or through a linker. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the cargo molecule through a linker. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the cargo molecule through a linker. In some embodiments, the linker is a peptide.
[014] In some embodiments, the cargo molecule is human interferon-a 2a, human growth hormone, or enhanced green fluorescent protein.
[015] In another aspect, the present application relates to a pharmaceutical composition, comprising the transport complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical composition is an oral formulation, an injection formulation, a mouth spray formulation or a nasal spray formulation.
[016] In another aspect, the present application relates to a method of delivering a cargo molecule across a cell in a subject, which comprises administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, the transport complex comprises a transport moiety comprising the polypeptide as described herein, and the cargo molecule. [017] In another aspect, the present application relates to an isolated nucleic acid, which comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the cell-penetrating polypeptide.
[018] In another aspect, the present application relates to a method of producing the cell-penetrating polypeptide, comprising expressing an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid encoding the cell-penetrating polypeptide in a host cell under a condition allowing expression of the polypeptide; harvesting and purifying the expressed polypeptide.
[019] In another aspect, the present application relates to use of the cell-penetrating polypeptide for delivering a cargo molecule to a cell in a subject, which comprises administering the subject with a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety containing the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein, and the cargo molecule.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[020] FIG. 1 shows plasmid pET-32a.
[021] FIG. 2 shows the results of enzyme digestion and PCR identification of recombinant plasmid pET-32a-EFEm, wherein, lanes 1 and 2: EcoRI/XhoI double enzyme digestion results of pET-32a-EFEm (the target band is dark); lanes 3 and 4: PCR identification results by using plasmid pET-32a-EFEm as the template; lane 5: PCR identification results by using pET-32a-EFEm/JM109 bacterial extract as the template solution; lane M: DN A molecular weight marker (bp).
[022] FIG. 3 shows SDS-PAGE detection results of EFEm (a mutant of EFE) expression, wherein, lane M: protein molecular weight marker (KD); lane 1 : after induction of pET-32a /BL21(DE3); lane 2: before induction of pET-32a -EFEm/BL21 (DE3); lane 3: after induction of pET-32a-EFEm/BL21(DE3) (46.8KD); lane 4: centrifuged supernatant of the disrupted bacteria after induction of pET-32a -EFEm/BL21(DE3); lane 5: inclusion bodies after induction of pET-32a-EFEm/BL21 (DE3); lane 6: before induction of pET-32a-EFE/BL21(DE3); lane 7: after induction of pET-32a-EFE/BL21(DE3) (46.9 kD); lane 8: centrifuged supernatant of bacteria lysate after induction of pET-32a -EFE/BL21(DE3); lane 9: inclusion bodies after induction of pET-32a -EFE/BL21(DE3). The inducible expression condition is ImM IPTG, 37°C, 4h.
[023] FIG. 4 shows SDS-PAGE detection results of purified protein EFEm, wherein, lane M: protein marker; lanes 1-5: partial samples collected step-by-step during EFEm purification, the molecular weight is 46.8KD.
[024] FIG. 5 shows fibrinolysis activity results of EFEm measured by the fibrin protein plate assay, wherein, A: EFE standard; B: purified protein of soluble EFEm; C: purified renatured protein of EFEm inclusion body; D: purified EFEm inclusion body before renaturation; E: purified protein of soluble EFE.
[025] FIG. 6 shows the plasmid pET22b.
[026] FIG. 7 shows the results of enzyme digestion of recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a, wherein, lane 1 : PCR product of IFN a 2a; lane 2: DNA Marker; lane 3: Nde I & BamH I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET 22b-IFN a 2a.
[027] FIG. 8 shows the identification results of recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm, wherein, lane 1 : DNA Marker; lane 2: Nde I & BamH I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm (IFN a 2a fragment); lane 3: BamH I & Xho I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm (EFEm fragment); lane 4: Nde I & Xho I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm (IFN a 2a-EFEm fragment); lane 5: recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm.
[028] FIG. 9 shows the results of SDS-PAGE identification of inducible expression and purification of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm, wherein, lane 1 : protein marker; lane 2: centrifuged supernatant of bacterial lysate after induction of pET-22b (+) -IFN a 2a-EFEm/BL21; lane 3: centrifuged precipitates of bacterial lysate after induction of pET-22b (+) -IFN a 2a-EFEm/BL21; lanes 4 and 5: renatured and purified fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm. [029] FIG. 10 shows the determination results of antiviral titer of IFN a 2a -EFEm by VSV-HeLa system, wherein the antiviral activity of the interferon IFN standard as indicated by the box is 1.0IU/ml.
[030] FIG. 11 shows the ELISA results of intestinal absorption of IFN a 2a-EFEm.
[031] FIG. 12 shows the results of enzyme digestion identification of recombinant plasmid pMD-EFEm-hGH, wherein, lane 1 : D 10000 DNA marker; lane 2: Xho I single enzyme digestion product of pMD-EFEm-hGH; lane 3: Xho I and Msc I double enzyme digestion product; lane 4: PCR products of EFEm-hGH; lane 5: PCR product of EFEm; lane 6: PCR product of hGH; lane 7: D2000 DNA marker.
[032] FIG. 13 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 26) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 27) of EFEm-hGH.
[033] FIG. 14 shows the inducible expression profiles of fusion protein EFEm-hGH, wherein, lane 1 : molecular weight marker; lane 2: E.coli BL21/pET22b; lane 3: E.coli BL21/pET22b-EFEm-hGH (BL21) without IPTG induction; lane 4: E.coli BL21/pET22b-EFEm-hGH (BL21) with IPTG induction.
[034] FIG. 15 shows SDS-PAGE detection results of renatured and purified fusion protein EFEm-hGH, wherein, lane 1 : molecular weight marker; lane 2: purified EFEm-hGH.
[035] FIG. 16 shows ELISA results of the intestinal absorption of EFEm-hGH.
[036] FIG. 17 shows the results of enzyme digestion identification of recombinant plasmid pET-32a-EFEi_i 59, wherein, lane 1 : EcoR I and Xho I double enzyme digestion of plasmid pET-32a-EFEi_i59; lane 2: PCR product of EFEi_i59; lane 3: DNA Marker D2000.
[037] FIG. 18 shows the expression results of EFEi_i59, wherein, lane 1 : protein molecular weight marker; lane 2: IPTG induction of pET-32a/BL21(DE3); lane 3: before IPTG induction of pET-32a- EFEi_i59/BL21(DE3); lane 4: IPTG induction of pET-32a EFEi_i59/BL21(DE3) (37.7 KD); lane 5: without IPTG induction of pET-32a-EFEi_i 59/BL21 (DE3); lane 6: ultrasonic disruption solution of induced pET-32a-EFEi_i 59/BL21(DE3); lane 7: centrifuged supernatant of ultrasonic disruption solution of induced pET-32a- EFEi_i 59/BL21 (DE3). Induction condition: ImM IPTG, 37°C, 4h.
[038] FIG. 19 shows the extraction and purification results of EFEi_i59, wherein, A: soluble protein; B: inclusion body protein; lane M: protein molecular weight marker; lanes 1-4 of FIG. A and lanes 1-5 of FIG. B: partial samples collected step-by- step during EFEi_i59 purification, the molecular weight is 37.7KD.
[039] FIG. 20 shows the results of fibrinolysis activity of EFEi_i59 by fibrin plate assay, wherein, a: EFE standard; b: purified soluble protein EFE expressed in E. Coli; c: purified soluble protein EFEi_i59.
[040] FIG. 21 shows the results of enzyme digestion identification of recombinant plasmid pET32a-EFEi_ioo-EGFP, wherein, lane 1 : DNA/Hindlll marker; lanes 2~5: double enzyme digestion identification of positive clones with EcoRI and Notl; lane 6: DL2000 DNA marker.
[041] FIG. 22 shows the results of extraction and purification and Western blotting assay of EFEi_i0o-EGFP, wherein, lane 1 : sample of fusion protein EFEi_ioo-EGFP purified by Ni-NTA affinity column chromatography; lane 2: protein molecular weight standard; lane 3: induction of pET32a(+)-EFEi_ioo-EGFP/BL21(DE3); lane 4: induction of empty vector pET32a(+) without target gene in BL21(DE3); lane 5: pET32a(+)-EFEi_i00-EGFP/BL21(DE3) before IPTG induction; lane 6: pET32a(+)-EFEi_i00-EGFP in BL21(DE3) without IPTG induction; the right panel shows Western blotting results, the arrow indicates the fusion protein.
[042] FIG. 23 shows the fluorescence of mice serum, wherein, A: EFEi_ioo-EGFP protein solution as a control; B: serum of mice at 2 hours after the intraperitoneal injection of EGFP; C: serum of mice at 2 hours after the intraperitoneal injection of fusion protein EFEi_ioo-EGFP.
[043] FIG. 24 shows the ELISA results of EFEnoo-EGFP in the serum of mice, wherein, A: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of soluble fusion protein EFEnoo-EGFP; B: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of renatured inclusion body protein EFEnoo-EGFP; C: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of normal saline; D: ELISA results of the serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of soluble EGFP
[044] FIG. 25 shows the Western blotting results of experimental mice, wherein, lane 1 : serum of mice with intraperitoneal injection of normal saline; lane 2: serum of mice at 1 hour after the intraperitoneal injection of soluble fusion protein EFEPi_ioo -EGFP; lane 3: serum of mice at 1 hour after the intraperitoneal injection of soluble fusion protein EGFP; lane 4: serum of mice at 3 hours after the intraperitoneal injection of EFEPi_ioo -EGFP obtain after the renaturation of expressed inclusion body.
[045] FIG. 26 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 5) of the naturally-occurring EFE protein.
[046] FIG. 27 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 6) of EFEm.
[047] FIG. 28 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 3) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 7) of EFEi_i00.
[048] FIG. 29 shows the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 4) and nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 8) of EFEi_i59.
[049] FIG. 30 shows the plasmid map of pUCm-T.
[050] FIG. 31 shows the plasmid map of pMD-T.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[051] While various aspects and embodiments will be disclosed herein, it is apparent that those skilled in the art may make various equivalent changes and modifications to the aspects and embodiments without deviating from the subject spirit and scope of the present application. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are only for the purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the appended claims.
[052] One aspect of the present application relates to a cell-penetrating polypeptide fragment. In particular, the present application relates to an isolated polypeptide comprising a mutant of EFE or a partial polypeptide fragment of EFE, the mutant or fragment is capable of penetrating a cell, but essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity. In some embodiments, the polypeptide fragment of EFE is the amino terminal fragment of EFE. In some embodiments, the polypeptide fragment of EFE has at least 100 amino acids, or at least 110 amino acids, or at least 120 amino acids, or at least 130 amino acids, or at least 140 amino acids, or at least 150 amino acids of the amino terminal of the full length sequence of EFE amino acid. In some embodiments, the polypeptide fragment of the EFE has any length of 100-159 amino acids at the amino terminal of the full length sequence of EFE amino acid.
[053] The terms "polypeptide", "protein" and "peptide" as used herein can be used interchangeably and refer to the polymer of amino acids. The polypeptide, protein or peptide as described herein may contain naturally-occurring amino acids, as well as non-naturally-occurring amino acids, or analogues and simulants of amino acids. The polypeptide, protein or peptide can be obtained by any method well-known in the art, for example, but not limited to, isolation and purification from natural materials, recombinant expression, chemical synthesis, etc.
[054] The term "isolated" as used herein refers to a material (for example, polypeptide or nucleic acid) that is separated from its naturally existing environment, or exists in an environment different from that in which it may naturally occur.
[055] "Cell-penetrating" as used herein refers to that, the polypeptide is capable of penetrating a cell membrane, transferring from one side of the cell membrane to another side, for example, entering into a cell from the outside of the cell by penetrating the cell membrane, or capable of penetrating a physical barrier formed by one or more layers of cells. The polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating living cells, cells in vitro or in vivo. The polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating different types of cells, including, but not limited to, gastrointestinal epithelial cells (such as oral epithelial cells, esophageal epithelial cells, gastric epithelial cells, duodenum epithelial cells, intestinal epithelial cells, jejunal epithelial cells, ileal epithelial cells, colonic epithelial cells), mucosal cells (such as oral mucosal cells, nasal mucosal cells, gastric mucosal cells, small intestinal mucosal cells, colonic mucosal cells, duodenal mucosal cells), skin cells (such as epidermal cells, epithelial cells, dermal cells, endothelial cells), or vascular cells (such as vascular wall cells, vascular endothelial cells, vascular cortical cells, vascular smooth muscle cells). In some embodiments, the polypeptide as provided herein is capable of penetrating the intestinal epithelial cells. In some embodiments, the polypeptide as provided herein is capable of penetrating vascular wall cells, and thereby entering the blood circulation system.
[056] In some embodiments, the polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating cells by itself or by carrying other molecules in the form of complex. The polypeptide of the present application is capable of penetrating cells intactly, and still retains its biological activity after penetrating cells. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating activity of the polypeptide of the present application is at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100%, 110%, 120%, 130%, 140% or 150% of that of the full-length EFE.
[057] The cell-penetrating function of a polypeptide can be determined by methods known in the art, for example, by administering the experimental animals with the polypeptide as disclosed herein, then drawing blood, and detecting the amount of the polypeptide contained in the blood to determine its capability of penetrating cells. The amount of the polypeptide can be determined by any appropriate methods, for example, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), by coating a microwell plate with EFE antibodies, using HRP-EFE antibody as the color-developing antibody, using o-phenylenediamine (OPD) as the substrate, reading OD492 on the microplate reader, a larger OD value indicating more penetrated materials and stronger capability of cell penetration. For another example, the amount of the polypeptide can be determined by serum fluorescence assay. In brief, the fusion protein EFEnoo-EGFP comprising the penetrating polypeptide EFE1-100 as provided herein and green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as test sample is tested while EGFP is used as a negative control; Kunming mice are given intraperitoneal injection of EFE1 00-EGFP and EGFP at the same concentration; two hours later, the presence of fluorescence in serum of mice with injection of EFEnoo-EGFP and EGFP, respectively, is detected under ultraviolet excitation. The presence of fluorescence indicates that EFE 1 00 has cell penetration activity.
[058] In some embodiments, the isolated polypeptide as provided herein is essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity.
[059] The term "fibrinolysis activity" as used herein refers to the ability of converting the fibrin into small fragments of fibrin degradation products (FDPs), or converting inactive plasminogen into active plasmin. The fibrinolysis activity can be determined by methods known in the art, for example, the fibrin plate assay (see, Jespersen J, Astrup T., A study of the fibrin plate assay of fibrinolytic agents - optimal conditions, reproducibility and precision. Haemostasis, 1983, 13: 301-315). In some embodiments, agarose, bovine plasminogen, bovine fibrinogen and bovine thrombin are used to prepare a fibrin plate, on which the polypeptide solution of the present application is applied by dropping to determine the fibrinolysis activity by observing the dissolving circle of the fibrin. The parts where the polypeptide solution of the present application is applied will show transparent zones due to the hydrolysis of fibrin, a larger transparent zone indicates stronger fibrinolysis activity. For another example, the fibrinolysis activity can be determined by fibrin zymography (see, WU jin-xia et al, Determination of fibrinolytic enzymes from earthworm (Eisenia foetida) by fibrin zymography, Chin Pharm J., 2005, 40 (21): 1656-1659), which is a combination of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) technique and fibrin plate assay. In the assay, fibrinogen is added into the polyacrylamide gel solution, fibrinogen is converted into fibrin under the action of thrombin at the same time of gel formation, the test solution containing plasmin is under electrophoresis, heat preservation, dyeing and decoloration, the regions where the plasmin component is located show transparent zones due to the hydrolysis of fibrin, the other regions are blue, and the amount of plasmin component can be clearly observed from the zymography.
[060] In some embodiments, the polypeptide as provided herein is essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity. The phrase "essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity" means that the fibrinolysis activity is reduced by at least 50%, 60%, 70%>, 80%>, 90%>, 95%, or 99% when compared with the fibrinolysis activity of the natural full-length EFE. In some embodiments, the fibrinolysis activity of the polypeptides provided herein is undetectable.
[061] The natural full-length sequence of EFE has 246 amino acids, which is shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 as follows:
[062] MELPPGTKIVGGIEARPYEFPWQVSVR KSSDSHFCGGSIINDRWV VCAAHCMQGEAPALVSLVVGEHDRSAASTVRQTHDVDSIFVHEDYNTNTLE NDVSVIKTSVAITFDINVGPICAPDPANDYVYRKSQCSGWGTINSGGICCPNVL RYVTLNDTTNQYCEDVYPLNSIYDDMICASDNTGGNDRDSCQGDSGGPLSVK DGSGIFSLIGIVSWGIGCASGYPGVYSRVGFHAAWIT DIITNN (SEQ ID NO: 1).
[063] In some embodiments, the present application provides a mutant of EFE, EFEm. The mutant EFEm is generated by mutation at sites 192 and 221 in the natural full-length sequence of EFE from Cys to Gly. The mutant EFEm loses its intrinsic fibrinolysis activity, but retains the activity of cell penetration, can effectively penetrate intestinal mucosa and enter blood circulation system, and the efficiency of penetration is higher than the EFE. The amino acid sequence of the mutant EFEm is shown as SEQ ID NO: 2: [064] MELPPGTKIVGGIEARPYEFPWQVSVR KSSDSHFCGGSIINDRWV VCAAHCMQGEAPALVSLVVGEHDRSAASTVRQTHDVDSIFVHEDYNTNTLE NDVSVIKTSVAITFDINVGPICAPDPANDYVYRKSQCSGWGTINSGGICCPNVL RYVTLNDTTNQYCEDVYPLNSIYDDMICASDNTGGNDRDSGQGDSGGPLSV KDGSGIFSLIGIVSWGIGGASGYPGVYSRVGFHAAWITDIITNN (SEQ ID NO:2).
[065] In some embodiments, the present application provides a polypeptide fragment (SEQ ID NO: 3) containing 100 amino acids of the amino terminal of EFE, the polypeptide fragment (EFEi_i0o) does not have fibrinolysis activity, but retains the cell-penetrating function.
[066] In some embodiments, the present application provides a polypeptide fragment (SEQ ID NO: 4) containing 159 amino acids of the amino terminal of EFE, the polypeptide fragment (EFEi_i59) does not have fibrinolysis activity, but retains the cell-penetrating function.
[067] In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%>, at least 85%, at least 90%>, at least 95%, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to SEQ ID NO: 2, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
[068] In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has at least 70%>, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%o, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to the polypeptide sequence EFEi_i0o as shown in SEQ ID NO: 3, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
[069] In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95%o, at least 98%, or at least 99% homology to the polypeptide sequence EFEi_i59 as shown in SEQ ID NO: 4, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
[070] The term "percent (%) homology to" as used herein refers to, for amino acid sequences, the percentage of identity between two amino acid sequences after aligning the candidate and the reference sequences, and if necessary introducing gaps, to achieve the maximum number of identical amino acids; for nucleotide sequence, the percentage of identity between two nucleotide sequences after aligning the candidate and the reference sequences, and if necessary introducing gaps, to achieve the maximum number of identical nucleotides.
[071] The percentage of homology can be determined by various well-known methods in the art. For example, the comparison of sequence can be achieved by the following publically available tools: BLASTp software (available from the website of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi also see, Altschul S.F.et al, J. Mol. Biol, 215:403-410 (1990); Stephen F. et al, Nucleic Acids Res., 25:3389-3402 (1997)), ClustalW2 (available from the website of European Bio informatics Institute: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/, also see, Higgins D.G. et al, Methods in Enzymology, 266:383-402 (1996); Larkin M.A. et al, Bioinformatics (Oxford, England), 23(21): 2947-8 (2007)) and Tcoffee (available from the website of Sweden Bioinformatics Institute, also see, Poirot O.et al, Nucleic Acids Res., 31(13): 3503-6 (2003); Notredame C. et al, J. Mol. Boil, 302(1): 205-17 (2000)). If the alignment of the sequences is performed using software, the default parameters available in the software may be used, or otherwise the parameters may be customized to suit the alignment purpose. All of these are within the scope of knowledge of a person skill in the art.
[072] In some embodiments, the polypeptides homologous to SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4 are capable of penetrating cells, and are essentially absent of fibrinolysis activity. The cell-penetrating function and fibrinolysis activity of these homologous polypeptides can be tested and validated by the methods mentioned above.
[073] The polypeptide provided by the present application comprises the analogues thereof. The polypeptide analogue refers to a polypeptide with a functional or structural feature completely or partially similar to the polypeptide (i.e. parent polypeptide) as provided herein. The polypeptide analogue may be a fragment, mutant, derivative, or variant of a parent polypeptide, and may contain chemical or biological modifications. The polypeptide analogue may have one or more amino acid substitutions, additions, deletions, insertions, truncations, modifications (e.g. phosphorylation, glycosylation, labeling, etc.), or any combination thereof, of the parent polypeptide. The analogue may include naturally occurring variants of the parent polypeptide and artificial polypeptide sequences such as those obtained by recombinant methods or chemical synthesis. The analogue may contain non-naturally occurring amino acid residues.
[074] The conservative substitution of amino acid residues refers to the substitution between amino acids with similar properties, for example, the substitution between polar amino acids (such as the substitution between glutamine and asparagine), the substitution between hydrophobic amino acids (such as the substitution among leucine, isoleucine, methionine and valine), as well as the substitution between amino acids with identical charges (such as the substitution among arginine, lysine and histidine, or the substitution between glutamic acid and aspartic acid), etc. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has conservative substitution of amino acids at only one amino acid site compared to the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as descried herein has conservative substitution of amino acids at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20 amino acid sites compared to the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4.
[075] On the pre-condition of not affecting its biological activity, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein may also contain non-naturally occurring amino acids, including, for example, β-fluoro-alanine, 1 -methyl- histidine, γ-methylene-glutamic acid, a-methyl-leucine, 4,5-dehydro-lysine, hydroxyproline, 3-fluoro-phenylalanine, 3-amino-tyrosine, 4-methyl-tryptophan, and the like.
[076] In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of at least 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, or 150 amino acids. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of not more than 246, 245, 244, 243, 242, 241, 240, 235, 230, 225, 220, 215, 210, 205 or 200 amino acids. In some embodiments, the polypeptide as described herein comprises a portion or the full sequence of any one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
[077] In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of 50 to 100 amino acids, 60 to 100 amino acids, 70 to 100 amino acids, 80 to 100 amino acids, or 90 to 100 amino acids. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of 100 to 120 amino acids, 100 to 130 amino acids, 100 to 140 amino acids, 100 to 150 amino acids, 100 to 160 amino acids, 100 to 170 amino acids, 100 to 180 amino acids, 100 to 190 amino acids, 100 to 200 amino acids, 100 to 210 amino acids, 100 to 220 amino acids, 100 to 230 amino acids, or 100 to 240 amino acids. In some embodiments, the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein has a length of 100 to 151 amino acids, 100 to 152 amino acids, 100 to 153 amino acids, 100 to 154 amino acids, 100 to 155 amino acids, 100 to 156 amino acids, 100 to 157 amino acids, 100 to 158 amino acids, or 100 to 159 amino acids. The number of amino acids of the cell-penetrating polypeptide as described herein can be equal to any integer value within the above numerical range, including the end-points of the range. In some embodiments, the polypeptide comprises a portion or the full sequence of any one of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
[078] The cell-penetrating polypeptide as provided herein can be prepared by techniques known in the art such as chemical synthesis method and genetic engineering method.
[079] Chemical synthesis method mainly includes two methods, solid-phase synthesis and liquid-phase synthesis. Solid-polypeptide synthesis method includes, for example, the Merrifield solid-phase synthesis, the details of which have been disclosed in "Merrifield, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85: 2149-2154" and "M. Bodanszky et al, Peptide Synthesis, John Wiley & Sons, Second Edition, 1976" and "J. Meienhofer, Hormonal Proteins and Peptides, Vol. 2, p. 46, Academic Press (New York), 1983", which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. The Merrifield solid-phase synthesis mainly includes the following steps: attaching the protected C-terminal amino acid of the peptide to the resin based on the amino acid sequences of the target protein. After attachment the resin is filtered, washed and the protecting group (e.g. t-butyloxycarbonyl) on the alpha amino group of the C-terminal amino acid is removed. The removal of this protecting group must take place, of course, without breaking the bond between that amino acid and the resin. To the resulting resin peptide is then coupled the penultimate C-terminal protected amino acid. This coupling takes place by the formation of an amide bond between the free carboxy group of the second amino acid and the amino group of the first amino acid attached to the resin. This sequence of events is repeated with successive amino acids until all amino acids of the peptide are attached to the resin. Finally, the protected peptide is cleaved from the resin and the protecting groups removed to obtain the desired peptide. The polypeptides disclosed herein can also be prepared by liquid-phase synthesis, for example, by the standard solution peptide synthesis, which has been disclosed in "E. Schroder and K. Kubke, The Peptides, Vol. 1, Academic Press (New York), 1965" in details, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Liquid-phase synthesis mainly includes coupling amino acids or peptide fragments step by step by chemical or enzymic methods that form amide bonds.
[080] The genetic engineering method is a method of expressing a nucleic acid sequence encoding the corresponding polypeptide in an appropriate host cell to generate the corresponding polypeptide. For the detailed description of this method, please refer to the "Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual" edited by Sambrook, et al. (Cold Spring Harbor, 1989).
[081] The polypeptides as disclosed herein may be modified by methods well-known in the art, including, but not limited to, PEGylation, glycosylation, amino terminal modification, fatty acylation, carboxyl terminal modification, phosphorylation, methylation, and the like.
[082] In another aspect, the present application relates to a transport complex comprising a transport moiety and a cargo molecule. The term "transport moiety" as used herein refers to a cell-penetrating polypeptide such as the cell-penetrating polypeptide as disclosed herein. The term "cargo molecule" as used herein refers to the molecule or material to be transported to penetrate the cell.
[083] In some embodiments, the cargo molecule is a small molecule compound. Examples of suitable small molecule compounds include, but are not limited to, chemical drugs, fluorescent molecules, and radioactive labels. Examples of chemical drugs include, but are not limited to, antineoplastic drugs (such as paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, docetaxel, epirubicin, and the like), cardiovascular drugs (such as nitroglycerin, nifedipine, diltiazem hydrochloride, irbesartan, felodipine, atorvastatin, and the like), anti-inflammatory drugs (such as aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, nimesulide, celecoxib, magnesium salicylate, naproxen, and the like), antiviral drugs (such as interferon, ribavirin, acyclovir, and the like), digestive system drugs (such as cimetidine, olsalazine sodium, famotidine, pirenzepine, omeprazole, and the like), nervous system drugs (such as carbamazepine, phenytoin sodium, betahistine, amantadine, phenobarbital, Zolpidem, and the like), respiratory system drugs (such as salbutamol, terbutaline, clenbuterol, aminophylline, bromhexine, and the like), immune system drugs (such as azathioprine, and the like), urinary system drugs (such as hydrochlorothiazide, terazosin, tamsulosin, and the like), diagnostic agents (such as urografin, iohexol, iopamidol, biligrafm, and the like), dermatologic drugs (such as beclomethasone, triamcinolone, mupirocin, erythrocin, clotrimazole, and the like). Fluorescent molecules include, but are not limited to, BODIPY and analogues thereof, rare-earth chelate, fluorescein and derivatives thereof, rhodamine and derivatives thereof, dansyls, and the like. The radioactive labels include, but are not limited to, 3H, 14C, 35S, 18F, 32P, 33P, 1251, 36C1, and the like.
[084] In some embodiments, the cargo molecule is a biomacromolecule, including but not limited to, nucleic acid, polynucleotide, protein, polypeptide, carbohydrate, polysaccharide, glycoprotein, lipid, and the like. In some embodiments, the biomacromolecule includes, for example, enzyme, antibody, hormone, protein drug or prodrug, and the like. In some embodiments, the biomacromolecule is a polypeptide or polynucleotide. In some embodiments, the biomacromolecule is human interferon-a 2a, human growth hormone, or enhanced green fluorescent protein.
[085] The transport moiety may be directly or indirectly, covalently or non-covalently linked to the cargo molecule in any appropriate way to form a transport complex. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is directly linked to the cargo molecule. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is linked to the cargo molecule through a linker. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule. In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule through an ester bond, an ether bond, a phosphate ester bond, an amido bond, a peptide bond, an imidodicarbonic diamide bond, a carbon-sulfur bond, or a carbon-phosphor bond.
[086] In some embodiments, when both the transport moiety and the cargo molecule are polypeptides or proteins, the transport moiety is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the cargo molecule, or the transport moiety is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the cargo molecule. In some embodiments, when both the transport moiety and the cargo molecule are polypeptides or proteins, a fusion protein, i.e. a transport complex, can be formed by linking the encoding nucleic acid of the transport moiety to that of the cargo molecule, and then conducting recombination expression in appropriate expression vectors and expression cells.
[087] In some embodiments, the transport moiety is covalently or non-covalently linked to the cargo molecule through a linker. The term "linker" as used herein refers to a structural unit that covalently or non-covalently links the transport moiety to the cargo molecule. [088] In some embodiments, the linker is a polypeptide, for example, a flexible peptide. The term "flexible peptide" as used herein refers to a peptide chain formed by interconnecting a certain number of glycine and serine. The spacial flexibility of glycine and serine can enable the free extension of transport moiety and cargo molecule, therefore, avoiding covering of the active sites. In some embodiments, the flexible peptides can be one or more linkers selected from the group consisting of GGSGSGGSGGSGSGG (SEQ ID NO: 9), GGGGSGGGGSGGGGS (SEQ ID NO: 10) or GS. In some embodiments, the peptide linkers may be inserted into the transport complex by gene recombination technology. For example, when the cargo molecule is also a protein or polypeptide, the nucleotide encoding sequence of the peptide linker can be operably linked to the encoding sequence of the cell-penetrating polypeptide disclosed herein and the encoding sequence of the cargo molecule, thereby allowing the production of a fusion protein containing a cell-penetrating polypeptide disclosed herein and a cargo molecule linked by a peptide linker through recombination expression.
[089] In some embodiments, the linker is a chemical coupling molecule or group (such as N-hydroxy succinimide (NHS), N-hydroxy sulfosuccinimide (Sulfo-NHS), sulfydryl- containing groups, glutaraldehyde). In some embodiments, one or more chemical coupling groups may be introduced into the transport moiety and the cargo molecule, and chemical coupling can be formed between the transport moiety and the cargo molecule by the reaction between the chemical coupling groups. In some embodiments, a transport moiety may be linked to a cargo molecule through a chemical linker (for example, the structures such as Ci-C6 alkyl, C3-C6 naphthenic base, aryl or heteroaryl groups, and the like).
[090] In some embodiments, the transport moiety is EFEm, the cargo molecule is human interferon-a 2a, and the EFEm is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the human interferon-a 2a through a linker to form a transport complex. In some embodiments, the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GGSGSGGSGGSGSGG (SEQ ID NO: 9). [091] In some embodiments, the transport moiety is EFEm, the cargo molecule is human growth hormone, and the EFEm is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the human growth hormone through a linker to form a transport complex. In some embodiments, the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GGGGSGGGGSGGGGS (SEQ ID NO: 10).
[092] In some embodiments, the transport moiety is EFEi_i0o, the cargo molecule is the enhanced green fluorescent protein, and the EFEi_i0o is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the enhanced green fluorescent protein through a linker to form the transport complex. In some embodiments, the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GS.
[093] In some embodiments, the covalently linked linker can be selectively digested, thereby releasing free cargo molecules under certain specific conditions. For example, the specific condition can be a specific pH condition, the linker can be a cathepsin B-hydrolyzable linker, which can exist in a complete form under alkaline pH condition, but can be digested with cathepsin B under acidic condition (Walker MA, Dubowchik GM, Hofstead SJ, et al., Synthesis of an immuno conjugate of camptothecin. Bioorg Med Chem Lett, 2002, 12(2): 217-219).
[094] In some embodiments, the linker associates the cell-penetrating polypeptide to the cargo molecule through a non-covalent bond. The non-covalent bond may be, for example, formed by ion-ion interaction, hydrophobic interaction or hydrogen bond. The linker may be, for example, avidin and biotin, wherein, the cell-penetrating polypeptide can be conjugated with avidin, the cargo molecule can be conjugated with biotin, the cell-penetrating polypeptide and the cargo molecule can be covalently linked through the close non-covalent interaction between avidin and biotin.
[095] In another aspect, the present application relates to an isolated nucleic acid, which comprises the nucleic acid sequence of the polypeptide as disclosed herein. The term "nucleic acid" or "polynucleotide" as used herein refers to ribonucleic acid (RNA), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or the mixture of ribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid, such as DNA-RNA hybrid. Ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid may be single-stranded or double stranded DNA or RNA or DNA-RNA hybrid. Ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid may be linear or circular.
[096] The term "encode" or "encoding" as used herein refers to being capable of being transcribed into mRNA and/or translated into peptides or proteins. The term "encoding sequence" or "gene" refers to the polynucleotide sequence encoding mRNA, peptides or proteins. These two terms can be interchangeably used in the present application.
[097] In some embodiments, the isolated nucleic acid comprises any one of the nucleotide sequences as shown in SEQ ID NOs: 6-8.
[098] SEQ ID NO: 5 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 1. For the specific sequences, please refer to FIG. 26.
[099] SEQ ID NO: 6 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 2. For the specific sequences, please refer to FIG. 27.
[0100] SEQ ID NO: 7 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 3. For the specific sequences, please refer to FIG. 28.
[0101] SEQ ID NO: 8 is the nucleotide sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 4. For the specific sequences, please refer to FIG. 29.
[0102] In some embodiments, the isolated nucleic acid provided herein comprises a nucleotide sequence having at least 70% homology, for example, at least 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 99% homology to any one of the nucleotide sequences as shown in SEQ ID NOs: 5-8.
[0103] In some embodiments, the present application provides the nucleotide sequences encoding SEQ ID NOs: 2, 3, or 4, but the nucleotide sequences may be different from any of the nucleotide sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 6-8 due to the degeneracy of genetic codes.
[0104] The term "degeneracy of genetic codes" as used herein refers to the phenomenon that one amino acid has two or more genetic codons. For example, proline has four synonym codons, CCU, CCC, CCA and CCG. It is well-known in the art that due to the degeneracy of genetic codes, the nucleic acids of some positions in some known nucleotide sequence can be replaced without modification to the encoded amino acid sequence. It is easy for a person skilled in the art to conduct the replacement of degeneracy of genetic codes by, for example, site-specific mutagenesis technique of the original sequences. Different organisms have different preferences for different codons. In order to express the polypeptide provided herein in a selected biological cell, the codon that the biological cell prefers can be selected to obtain the corresponding coding sequence, and produce the polypeptide sequences (for example, SEQ ID NOs: 2-4) of the present application by recombinant expression.
[0105] In another aspect, the present application relates to a method of producing the polypeptide of the present application, comprising:
[0106] i) expressing an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide in a host cell under a condition allowing expression of the polypeptide;
[0107] ii) harvesting and purifying the expressed polypeptide.
[0108] The expression vector may be, for example, DNA plasmids, bacterial plasmids, viruses, etc. The non-limiting examples of expression vectors are, for example, those described in Paul et al, 2002, Nature Biotechnology, 19, 505; Miyagishi and Taira, 2002, Nature Biotechnology, 19, 497; Lee et al, 2002, Nature Biotechnology, 19, 500; and Novina et al, 2002, Nature Medicine, advance online publication doi: 10.1038/nm725. The expression vectors can further contain promoters operably linked to the coding sequence of the polypeptide to ensure that the promoters can initiate the expression of the coding sequence after the expression vector entering into the host cell. The expression vector can be introduced into the host cell by appropriate methods, including, but not limited to, calcium phosphate transfection, lipofection transfection, electroporation transfection, bacterial heat shock, and the like. For the detailed methods, please refer to "Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Sambrook et al, ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1989".
[0109] The host cells can be eukaryotic cells or prokaryotic cells. Appropriate eukaryotic cells may include, for example, mammalian cells such as the Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO). Appropriate prokaryotic cells may include, for example, bacteria such as Escherichia Coli.
[0110] In another aspect, the present application relates to use of the cell-penetrating polypeptide for delivering a cargo molecule to a cell in a subject, which comprises administering the subject with a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety containing the cell-penetrating polypeptide, and the cargo molecule.
[0111] The term "subject" as used herein refers to human and non-human animals. Non-human animals include all vertebrates, for example, mammals and non-mammals. The subject may also be a livestock animal such as, cattle, swine, sheep, poultry and horse, or domestic animal such as dog and cat. The subject may be male or female, may be elderly, and may be an adult, adolescent, child, or infant. A human subject may be Caucasian, African, Asian, Semitic, or other racial backgrounds, or a mixture of such racial backgrounds.
[0112] In another aspect, the present application relates to a pharmaceutical composition, comprising the transport complex and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
[0113] The term "pharmaceutically acceptable carrier" as used herein refers to a pharmaceutically acceptable solvent, suspending agent or any other pharmacologically inert vehicle for delivering a transport complex to a subject, which does not interfere with the structure and properties of the transport complex. Certain of such carriers enable the transport complex to be formulated as, for example, tablets, pills, capsules, liquids, gels, syrups, slurries, suspensions and pastilles, for oral ingestion by a subject. Certain of such carriers can enable the transport complex to be formulated as injections, infusions or local administration.
[0114] The pharmaceutically acceptable carriers for use in the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed herein may include, but are not limited to, for example, pharmaceutically acceptable liquids, gels, or solid carriers, aqueous vehicles (such as sodium chloride injection, Ringer's injection, isotonic dextrose injection, sterile water injection, or dextrose and lactated Ringer's injection), nonaqueous vehicles (such as fixed oils of vegetable origin, cottonseed oil, corn oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil), antimicrobial agents, isotonic agents (such as sodium chloride or dextrose), buffers (such as phosphate or citrate buffers), antioxidants (such as sodium bisulfate), anesthetics (such as procaine hydrochloride), suspending/dispending agents (such as sodium carboxymethylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, or polyvinylpyrrolidone), chelating agents (such as EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) or EGTA (ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid)), emulsifying agents (such as Polysorbate 80 (TWEEN-80)), diluents, adjuvants, excipients, or non-toxic auxiliary substances, other components known in the art, or various combinations thereof. Suitable components may include, for example, fillers, binders, disintegrants, buffers, preservatives, lubricants, flavorings, thickeners, coloring agents, or emulsifiers.
[0115] In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical composition is oral formulation. Oral formulations include, but not limited to, capsules, cachets, pills, tablets, lozenges (using a flavored basis, usually sucrose and acacia or tragacanth), powders, granules, or as a solution or a suspension in an aqueous or non-aqueous liquid, or as an oil-in-water or water-in-oil liquid emulsion, or as an elixir or syrup, or as pastilles (using an insert base, such as gelatin and glycerin, or sucrose and acacia) and/or as mouth washes and the like.
[0116] In solid dosage forms for oral administration (e.g., capsules, tablets, pills, dragees, powders, granules and the like), the transport complex is mixed with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, such as sodium citrate or dicalcium phosphate, and/or any of the followings: (1) fillers or extenders, such as starches, lactose, sucrose, glucose, mannitol, and/or silicic acid; (2) binders, such as carboxymethylcellulose, alginates, gelatin, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, sucrose and/or acacia; (3) humectants, such as glycerol; (4) disintegrating agents, such as agar-agar, calcium carbonate, potato or tapioca starch, alginic acid, certain silicates, and sodium carbonate; (5) solution retarding agents, such as paraffin; (6) absorption accelerators, such as quaternary ammonium compounds; (7) wetting agents, such as acetyl alcohol and glycerol monostearate; (8) absorbents, such as kaolin and bentonite clay; (9) lubricants, such as talc, calcium stearate, magnesium stearate, solid polyethylene glycols, sodium lauryl sulfate, and mixtures thereof; and (10) coloring agents.
[0117] Liquid dosage forms for oral administration include pharmaceutically acceptable emulsions, microemulsions, solutions, suspensions, syrups and elixirs. In addition to the transport complex, the liquid dosage forms may contain inert diluents commonly used in the art, such as, water or other solvents, solubilizing agents and emulsifiers, such as ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl carbonate, ethyl acetate, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, propylene glycol, 1,3-butylene glycol, oils (in particular, cottonseed, groundnut, corn, olive, castor and sesame oils), glycerol, tetrahydro fur fury 1 alcohol, polyethylene glycols and fatty acid esters of sorbitan, and mixtures thereof. Besides inert diluents, the oral compositions can also include adjuvants such as wetting agents, emulsifying and suspending agents, sweetening, flavoring, coloring, perfuming and preservative agents.
[0118] In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical composition is an injection formulation. The injection formulations include sterile water solutions or dispersions, suspensions or emulsions. In all cases, the injection formulation should be sterile and shall be fluid for easy injection. It should be stable under the conditions of manufacture and storage and must be preserved against the contaminating action of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. The carrier can be a solvent or dispersion medium containing, for example, water, ethanol, polyol (for example, glycerol, propylene glycol, and liquid polyethylene glycol, and the like), and suitable mixtures thereof and/or vegetable oils. The injection formulation should maintain appropriate fluidity The appropriate fluidity can be maintained, for example, by the use of a coating such as lecithin, by the use of surfactants, and the like. Prevention of the action of microorganisms can be achieved by various antibacterial and antifungal agents, for example, parabens, chlorobutanol, phenol, sorbic acid, thimerosal, and the like.
[0119] In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical compositions are mouth spray formulations or nasal spray formulations. The spray formulations include, but not limited to, aqueous aerosols, nonaqueous suspensions, lipidosome formulations or solid granular preparations, and the like. Aqueous aerosols are prepared by mixing aqueous solutions or suspensions of agents and conventional pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and stabilizers. The carriers and stabilizers are changed according to the requirements of specific compounds, but in general, they include nonionic surfactants (Tweens or polyethylene glycol), oleic acid, lecithin, amino acids such as glycine, buffer solution, salts, sugar or sugar alcohol. Aerosols are generally prepared by isotonic solutions, and can be delivered by sprayers.
[0120] In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical composition can be used by mixing with one or more other drugs. In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical composition comprises at least one other drug. In some embodiments, the other drugs are antineoplastic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, antiviral drugs, digestive system drugs, nervous system drugs, respiratory system drugs, immune system drugs, dermatologic drugs, and the like.
[0121] In some embodiments, the pharmaceutical compositions can be administered to a subject by appropriate routes, including without limitation, oral, injection (such as intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intracutaneous, intracardiac, intrathecal, intrapleural, intraperitoneal injection, and the like), mucosal (such as nasal, intraoral administration, and the like), sublingual, rectal, percutaneous, intraocular, and pulmonary administration. In some embodiments, the drug compositions can be administered orally.
[0122] In another aspect, the present application relates to a method of delivering a cargo molecule, for example, a drug, across a cell membrane in a subject, which comprises administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety consisting of the polypeptide and the cargo molecule, and pharmaceutically acceptable carriers.
[0123] In some embodiments, the method comprises the administration of therapeutically effective amount of pharmaceutical compositions to a subject. The term "therapeutically effective amount" as used herein refers to the amount of the pharmaceutical composition which achieves a therapeutic effect by inhibiting a disease or disorder in a subject, or by prophylactically inhibiting or preventing the onset of a disease or disorder. A therapeutically effective amount may be the amount of the pharmaceutical composition which relieves to some extent one or more symptoms of a disease or disorder in a subject; returns to normal either partially or completely one or more physiological or biochemical parameters associated with or causative of the disease or disorder; and/or reduces the likelihood of the onset of the disease or disorder.
[0124] In another aspect, the present application relates to use of the pharmaceutical composition in treating or preventing a disease or disorder, including but not limited to, diabetes (type I and type II), arrhythmia, atherosis, heart failure, circulatory disturbance, arthritis, hepatitis, cancer, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, pulmonary diseases, and the like.
EMBODIMENTS
[0125] The biological materials used in all examples such as E. Coli strains, various clone and expression plasmids, media, enzymes, buffer solutions, and various culturing methods, protein extraction and purification methods, the other molecular biological operation methods, are all well-known to persons skilled in the art. For more details, please refer to the "Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual" edited by Sambrook, et al. (Cold Spring Harbor, 1989) and "Short Protocols in Molecular Biology" (Frederick M. Ausubel, et al, translated by Yan Ziying et al, Science Press (Beijing), 1998).
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation and Analysis of EFEm 1. Gene Synthesis of EFEm
[0126] 5-10 Lumbricus rubellus adult worms (purchased from Huazhong Agricultural University) were washed with DEPC water (0.1% aqueous solution of diethylpyro carbonate), grinded into power in liquid nitrogen, and the total R A was extracted according to the instruction manual of the R easy mini kit (purchased from Qiagen Inc.). The first cDNA strand was synthesized using the extracted total RNA as a template (Reverse Transcription System, purchased from Promega Inc.). The following two specific primers were designed, and DNA in the coding region of EFE was amplified by PCR:
[0127] EFE-P1 ' (forward primer): 5' CATGGAACTTCCTCCCGA (SEQ ID NO: 34)
[0128] EFE-P2' (reverse primer): 5' ATCACCAACAACTAAACCG (SEQ ID NO: 35)
[0129] EFE gene segments were obtained by PCR amplification. The EFE gene segments were ligated into a pUCm-T vector (purchased from Sangon Biotech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., please refer to FIG. 30 for the plasmid map). The ligated vector was then transformed into E. Coli JM109. Positive clones were selected by enzyme digestion, which determined the inserted EFE gene sequence. The sequencing results confirmed that the cloned EFE genes contained an open reading frame of 741bp, encoding a polypeptide chain of 246 amino acids (Hu Yan, et al, Journal of Wuhan University (Natural Science Edition), 2004, 50: 211).
[0130] The recombinant plasmid pUCm-T-EFE (Hu Yan, et al, Journal of Wuhan University (Natural Science Edition), 2004, 50: 211) was used as a template to design the following six primers:
[0131] EFE-Pl (forward primer): 5 'GCCGAATTCATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA (SEQ ID NO: 11) (the underlined part is an EcoRI enzyme digestion site);
[0132] EFEm-P2 (reverse primer): 5'CTGTCCGGAGTCTCTGTCGT (SEQ ID NO: 12) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 192nd site);
[0133] EFEm-P3 (forward primer): 5 ' ACGAC AGAGACTCCGGAC AG (SEQ ID NO: 13) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 192nd site);
[0134] EFEm-P4 (reverse primer):: 5 'AGCTCC ACC AATTCCCC AAG (SEQ ID NO: 14) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 221st site);
[0135] EFEm-P5 (forward primer): 5'CTTGGGGAATTGGTGGAGCT (SEQ ID NO: 15) (the underlined part is mutation of Cys at the 221st site);
[0136] EFE-P6 (reverse primer): 5'GCGCTCGAGTTAGTTGTTGGTGATGAT (SEQ ID NO: 16) (the underlined part is an Xhol enzyme digestion site).
[0137] EFEm genes were amplified by overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method by taking EFE-Pl, EFEm-P2, EFEm-P3, EFEm-P4, EFEm-P5 and EFE-P6 as primers. 2 microliters of forward and reverse primers were used, respectively. The reaction condition is: pre-denaturation for five minutes under 95°C, denaturation for 45 seconds under 94°C, annealing for 45 seconds under 55°C, extension for 90 seconds under 72°C, repeat for 30 cycles, and extension for 10 minutes under 72°C. The amplified products were detected by 1% agarose electrophoresis, and the band with a molecular weight of 759bp could be observed (FIG. 2). PCR products were purified by gel recovery method.
[0138] PCR products and plasmid pET-32a (purchased from Invitrogen Inc., the plasmid map is shown in FIG. 1) were digested with EcoRI and Xhol. The digested products were recovered and ligated by T4 DNA ligase to obtain plasmid pET-32a-EFEm. The plasmid pET-32a-EFEm was used to transform E. Coli JM109 strain competent cells. The JM109 competent cells were prepared by CaCl2 method and coated on an LB basic culture medium agar plate (containing 10 g/L peptone, 5 g/L yeast powder, 10 g/L NaCl, 15 g/L agar powder, pH 7.0) containing ampicillin (Amp) 60 mg/L .
[0139] Plasmid pET-32a-EFEm was extracted by alkaline lysis in a small amount, and the positive clones were identified by enzyme digestion (FIG. 2).
[0140] The positive clones were identified by gene sequence determination of plasmid, and confirmed that the Cys at the 192nd and 221st sites of the synthesized EFEm gene sequence was mutated into Gly.
2. Expression of EFEm
[0141] Plasmid pET-32a-EFEm was extracted to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) strain competent cells prepared by CaCl2 method to obtain the expression strain E.coli BL21(DE3) / pET32a-EFEm. The positive clone was identified by PCR using the aforementioned EFE-P1 and EFE-P6 primers.
[0142] The identified positive clone was inoculated in 20 ml of LB culture medium containing 100 mg/L Amp, and shake cultured overnight under 37°C. The next day, 1 ml of culture was inoculated in 20 ml of LB culture containing Amp with the same concentration, shake cultured under 37°C till the OD600 value is about 0.6. IPTG was added to a final concentration of 1.0 mmol/L to conduct induction expression for 4 hours under 37°C.
[0143] The results of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) are shown in FIG. 3. EFEm was expressed in a large amount. Lane 3 in the figure is the assay result of the induced pET-32a-EFEm/BL21 (DE3) strain. The molecular weight as shown also conforms to the theoretical molecular weight of 46.8KD of EFEm linked to partial plasmid pET-32a expression fragments.
3. Extraction and Purification of EFEm
[0144] The bacteria mass was collected from the induced expression by centrifugation. 30 ml of lysis buffer (lOmM Tris.HCl containing lOOmM NaCl) was added per gram of bacteria to resuspend the bacteria pellet. The bacteria pellet underwent the freeze-thaw cycles for three times. Then ultrasonic disruption of the bacteria (4°C, work for 3 seconds with an interval of 3 seconds) was performed till the bacterial solution became clear. The supernatant and precipitate were collected respectively after the centrifugation.
[0145] The supernatant and precipitate were analyzed by SDS-PAGE, and the results showed that EFEm was mainly present in the supernatant (FIG. 3). The soluble expressed EFEm in the supernatant was filtered by millipore filtration method, and then purified by Ni-NTA Superflow column (QIAGEN) affinity chromatography.
[0146] The precipitate (inclusion body) portion was washed twice with washing solution containing 2M urea (2M urea, 1.15g Na2HP04, 0.2g KH2P04,8g NaCl, add double distilled water to 1L, pH8.0), and dissolved in denaturing solution containing 8M urea, loaded to Ni-NTA Superflow affinity column. The urea concentration in the washing solution was reduced linearly to elute and recycle the renatured EFEm.
[0147] The purified protein sample collected step-by-step from the soluble protein fraction and the inclusion body fraction were tested by SDS-PAGE (FIG. 4) for their purity. The results suggest that Ni-NTA affinity column can effectively purify two forms of target protein.
4. Fibrinolysis Activity Analysis of EFEm
[0148] Experimental materials: bovine profibrinolysin, bovine fibrinogen, bovine thrombin, and EFE standard, all purchased from National Institute for Food and Drug Control.
[0149] Fibrin plate assay was adopted for the fibrinolysis activity analysis. The evenly dissolved agarose solution was cooled and maintained at 45°C. Appropriate amounts of bovine profibrinolysin, bovine fibrinogen and bovine thrombin were added to prepare fibrin plates. 10 μΐ^ of purified soluble EFEm protein at a concentration of 0.5 mg/ml, renatured purified EFEm inclusion body, purified EFEm inclusion body prior to renaturation and EFE standard (positive control) and purified soluble EFE protein expressed by E. Coli (expression strains containing plasmid pGEM-T-EFE, the expression purification method is the same as described above) were dotted on the fibrin plate, respectively, kept under 37°C for 12h and then observe the dissolving circle of the fibrin.
[0150] The experimental results are shown in FIG. 5, wherein, A and E are EFE standard and purified soluble EFE protein expressed by E. Coli, respectively; B indicates purified soluble EFEm protein; C indicates renatured purified EFEm inclusion body; D indicates purified EFEm inclusion body prior to renaturation. The results indicate that, the EFE standard and the purified soluble EFE protein expressed by E. Coli show obvious fibrinolysis activity; while various forms of EFEm samples do not produce visible transparent zones, suggesting that EFEm lacks fibrinolysis activity.
5. Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis of EFEm
[0151] 15 Kunming mice (with an average weight of 20g, evenly composed of males and females) were randomly divided into 5 groups: normal saline, purified soluble EFE expressed by E. Coli, purified soluble EFEm, renatured EFEm inclusion body, and EFEm inclusion body, three mice for each group. After fasting for 36 hours, the mice were gavaged with 1 mL of the test samples (all the samples were dissolved in normal saline, 0.5 mg/ml).
[0152] Two hours later, blood was collected from mice's eyes. The blood was centrifuged and the serum was collected for sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA): rabbit anti-EFE antibody diluted with phosphate buffer (PBS) (prepared in our laboratory, the dilution was 1 :500) was used for coating; the developing antibody was HRP-EFE antibody diluted with PBST (prepared in our laboratory, the dilution was 1 : 100), developed with o-phenylenediamine (OPD) and OD492 value was read on the microplate reader.
[0153] ELISA results are shown in Table 1 below. Except for the normal saline group, the results of all the other groups are positive. The cell-penetrating activity of EFEm is stronger than EFE. The cell-penetrating activity signals of three different forms of EFEm protein, i.e., inclusion body, renatured inclusion body, and soluble protein, increase successively. The test results suggest that EFEm, comparing with EFE, not only retains, but also has enhanced the cell-penetrating activity.
Table 1 ELISA Assay Results of Normal Saline, EFE and EFEm serum
Figure imgf000036_0001
EXAMPLE 2
Preparation and Analysis of IFN a 2a-EFEm 1. Construction of pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm
[0154] The plasmid containing human IFN a 2a gene fragments (pshuttle-IFN a 2a, purchased from Shanghai Ruijie Biotech Co., Ltd.) was used as a DNA template, two specific primers were designed according to the human IFN a 2a gene sequence:
[0155] IFN a 2a upstream primer (forward primer),
GCCCATATGCAGGACCCTTATGTAAAAGAAGCA (SEQ ID NO: 17) (the underlined part is a Ndel enzyme digestion site);
[0156] IFN a 2a downstream primer (reverse primer), ACCGGATCCAGAACCACCCTGGGATGCTCTTCGACCTCGAAAC (SEQ ID NO: 18) (the underlined part is a BamHI enzyme digestion site).
[0157] IFN a 2a gene fragments were obtained by PCR amplification, and purified by gel electrophoresis, then digested with Ndel/BamHI, and linked to plasmid pET22b, which was also digested with Ndel/BamHI, to obtain the recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a. The recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a was used to transform E.Coli JM109, which was cultured in LB basic culture medium agar plate containing ampicillin, and the positive clones were selected. Plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a was extracted to perform enzyme digestion identification. The plasmid map of pET22b is shown in FIG. 6. IFN a 2a was inserted between BamHI(198) and Ndel(288), the enzyme digestion identification results are shown in FIG. 7, wherein, lane 3 indicates IFN a 2a polypeptide fragments.
[0158] Using a plasmid containing EFEm genes as a template, the following two primers were designed according to the EFEm sequence and multiple cloning sites on the expression vector pET22b:
[0159] EFEm upstream primer P 1 (forward primer) :
TCTGGATCClGGTGGTTCTGGATCCGGTGGTTCTGGTGGTTCTGGTTCTi
|GGTGGT|ATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGAACA (SEQ ID NO: 19) (the underlined part is a BamHI site, the box indicates the encoding sequence of the linking peptide
GGSGSGGSGGSGSGG ;
[0160] EFEm downstream primer P2 (reverse primer):
CGCCTCGAGGTTGTTGGTGATGATGTCGGTG (SEQ ID NO: 20) (the underlined part is an Xhol enzyme digestion site).
[0161] EFEm fragments were amplified by PCR using the above EFEm primers PI and P2. The PCR products and pET22b-IFN a 2a were double digested with BamHI and Xhol, and the digested EFEm fragments and pET22b- IFN a 2a are recycled by gel electrophoresis, and ligated together at the BamHI and Xhol sites to form the recombinant plasmid pET22b- IFN a 2a-EFEm, wherein, EFEm was linked to the carboxyl terminal of IFN a 2a through a linking peptide. The recombinant plasmid pET22b- IFN a 2a-EFEm was used to transform E. Coli JM109, which was cultured in LB culture plate containing ampicillin, and the positive clones were selected. The recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm was extracted to perform enzyme digestion identification. The enzyme digestion identification map is shown in FIG. 8, wherein, lane 5 is the recombinant plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm.
2. Expression of IFN a 2a-EFEm
[0162] Plasmid pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm was used to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) to obtain the bacteria E. Coli BL21 (DE3)/ pET22b-IFN a 2a-EFEm for genetic expression of the fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
[0163] The identified positive clone was inoculated in 20 mL of LB culture containing lOOug/ml ampicillin (Amp), and underwent shake culture overnight under 37°C. The next day, 1 ml of culture was inoculated in 20 ml of LB culture containing Amp with the same concentration, underwent shake culture under 37°C till the OD6oo value is about 0.6, IPTG with a final concentration of 1.0 mmol/L was added to conduct induction expression for 4 hours under 37°C. The culture was centrifuged for lOmin under 4°C at 12000g. The bacteria was collected and resuspended with lOmM PBS (Na2HP04 1.15g, KH2P04 0.2g, NaCl 8g, dilute with double distilled water to 1L, pH8.0), disrupted with ultrasonic, centrifuged. The supernatant and precipitate were collected to detect the expression of target protein by SDS-PAGE.
[0164] The detection results of protein expression are shown in FIG. 9, wherein, lanes 4 and 5 are the renaturation purification results of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm. The main expression form of IFN a 2a-EFEm is inclusion body, and a molecular weight of 46KD conforms to its theoretical value.
3. Extraction and Purification of IFN a 2a-EFEm
[0165] 1L of the bacteria fermentation liquid was prepared according to the above method of inducible expression. The bacterial mass was collected and weighted. 30 mL of lysis buffer (20mM Tris-HCl, 500mM NaCl was dissolved in 400 mL of double distilled water (ddH20), pH was adjusted to 7.9, diluted with ddH20 to the final volume of 500 mL) was added per gram of wet bacteria. The bacteria underwent freeze-thaw cycles for three times under -20°C. Then ultrasonic disruption (4°C, work for 3 seconds with an interval of 3 seconds) was performed till the bacterial solution became clear. The disrupted bacterial solution was centrifuged at lOOOOrpm for 20min under 4°C. The supernatant and precipitate were collected respectively.
[0166] lg of precipitate was added into 20 mL of inclusion body washing solution (2M urea, 1.15g Na2HP04, 0.2g KH2P04, 8g NaCl, add double distilled water to 1L, pH8.0), sufficiently washed with a sonicator, centrifuged for lOmin under 4°C at lOOOOrpm, and the precipitates were collected. The washed inclusion body was dissolved with 10 ml of lysis buffer (50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 8M urea, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0) on ice overnight. The lysate was centrifuged for lOmin at 12000rpm, then the precipitates were discarded, and the supernatant was diluted in protein renaturation solution (50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 2M urea, 0.5M L-Arg, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0) with a ratio of 1 :20, renatured overnight at 4°C. The next day, the renaturation solution was put into a dialysis bag and dialyzed in the dialysis solution (50mM Tris-HCl, 5mM EDTA, 0.15M NaCl, pH8.0) for 24h, during which the dialysis solution was changed twice. The protein was concentrated by polyethylene glycol, and centrifuged for lOmin at 12000rpm. The obtained supernatant was renatured protein IFN a 2a-EFEm. The renaturation purification results of the protein were detected by SDS-PAGE and shown in FIG. 9, wherein, lanes 4 and 5 were the renaturation purification results of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm.
4. Antiviral Activity and Intestinal Penetration Analysis of IFN a 2a-EFEm
4.1 Antiviral Activity Analysis
[0167] The antiviral activity of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm was determined by crystal violet staining in 96-well plates using vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-HeLa cell system (Liu Changnuan et al, Chinese Journal of Biologicals, 1999, 12: 37). VSV and HeLa cells were purchased from China Center for Type Culture Collection. Human IFN2a standard (freeze-dried powders, 5000IU/tube) was purchased from National Institute for Food and Drug Control.
[0168] The activity test results are shown in FIG 10. Interferon IFN standard is used as a standard to calculate the antiviral titer of the protein IFN a 2a -EFEm, and the results are shown in FIG. 10. The antiviral activity of interferon IFN standard indicated by a box in FIG. 10 is l .OIU/ml, and the concentration of IFN a 2a - EFEm (indicated by a box) with the same antiviral activity is 4"10 mg/ml. It can be calculated that protein IFN-a2a-EFEm (lmg/ml) corresponds to titer 410IU/mg, i.e., the antiviral titer of IFN a 2a -EFEm is about 1.0 xl06IU/mg.
[0169] The molecular weight of recombinant human IFN-a 2a is 19KD, and its antiviral specific activity is generally l .Ox 108IU/mg. Considering that IFN a 2a - EFEm is a fusion protein with a large molecular weight of 46KD, and only preliminary renaturation purification is performed for the fusion protein in this example, IFN a 2a - EFEm prepared by the present application has a normal antiviral activity of interferon-a.
4.2 Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis
[0170] Oral administration of fusion protein IFN a 2a-EFEm in rabbits: the concentration of renatured and concentrated protein IFN a 2a - EFEm was adjusted to 1 mg/ml with PBS (pH7.4), adsorbed with corn starch under 25°C, dried, and filled in enteric capsules after sieving. IFN a 2a- EFEm protein capsules were lavaged in two male New Zealand white rabbits. Vein blood was collected from the ears of the mice at lh, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h and 6h, respectively. Anti- coagulation treatment with 0.109M sodium citrate was performed for the collected blood in a ratio of 1 :9. The blood was centrifuged for lOmin at a rate of 3000rpm, clear serum was diluted to twice its original volume with PBS (pH 7.4). IFN a 2a in serum was detected by human interferon-a 2a enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kit (purchased from Rapidbio Inc.). The results were shown in FIG. 11.
[0171] The results showed that IFN a 2a could be detected in blood at one hour after the oral administration, and the peak concentration was achieved at three hours, ELISA signal was strong.
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation and Analysis of EFEm-hGH 1. Construction of pET22b-EFEm-hGH
[0172] The following five primers were designed according to known DNA sequences of the two target genes EFEm and human growth hormone (hGH) and the amino acid sequence of the linker by Primer Premier5.0:
[0173] fl (forward primer of EFEm):
5'ACTGGCCATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA (SEQ ID NO: 21) (the underlined part is an Mscl enzyme digestion site
[0174] rl (reverse primer of EFEm):
5'CTCCGCCTGATCCGCCACCGCCGTTGTTGGTGATGATGTCGG (SEQ ID NO: 22)
[0175] r2 (reverse primer of linking peptide):
5'ACCTCCACCACCAGAGCCGCCTCCGCCTGATCCGCCACCG (SEQ ID NO: 23)
[0176] β (forward primer of hGH):
5 'GCGGCTCTGGTGGTGGAGGTTCTTTCCCAACCATTCCCTTATC (SEQ ID NO: 24)
[0177] r3 (reverse primer of hGH):
5 TACTCGAGTTAGAAGCCACAGCTGCCCT (SEQ ID NO: 25) (the underlined part is an Xhol enzyme digestion site)
[0178] A total of four PCR reactions were conducted:
[0179] Reaction 1 : EFEm gene fragments were amplified by fl and rl using pMD-EFEm containing the EFEm gene described in Example 1 as the template;
[0180] Reaction 2: EFEm with a linker sequence at the 3 '-terminal was amplified by fl and r2 using the product of Reaction 1 as the template;
[0181] Reaction 3: hGH gene was amplified by f3 and r3 using plasmid pMD-hGH (preserved in our laboratory) containing the hGH gene as the template;
[0182] Reaction 4: fusion gene EFEm-hGH was amplified by fl and r3 using the products of Reaction 2 and Reaction 3 as mixed templates.
[0183] The final PCR product has a length of about 1.37kb. The PCR product was linked to plasmid pMD-T (purchased from Takara Biotechnology (Dalian) Co., Ltd., the plasmid map is shown in FIG. 31) to obtain recombinant plasmid pMD-EFEm-hGH, which was used to transform E. Coli JM109. Positive clones were selected, and plasmid pMD-EFEm-hGH was extracted for enzyme digestion identification, the enzyme digestion identification map is shown in FIG. 12, wherein, lane 4 shows PCR products of EFEm-hGH.
[0184] The correct products were then confirmed by sequencing. The length of fusion gene of EFEm-hGH was 1362bp, encoding 453 amino acids, the theoretical molecular weight was about 50KD. The amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 26) of fusion protein EFEm-hGH is shown in FIG. 13.
[0185] SEQ ID NO: 27 is the nucleic acid encoding the fusion protein EFEm-hGH as shown in SEQ ID NO: 26, its specific sequence is shown in FIG. 13.
[0186] The underlined part in SEQ ID NO: 26 is the linker sequence between EFEm and hGH, the nucleic acid sequence of the linker is as follows:
5'GGCGGTGGCGGATCAGGCGGAGGCGGCTCTGGTGGTGGAGGTTCT (SEQ ID NO: 28), and the encoded amino acid sequence is GGGGSGGGGSGGGGS (SEQ ID NO: 10).
2. Expression of EFEm-hGH
[0187] Plasmids pMD-EFEm-hGH and pET22b were digested with Mscl and Xhol, respectively. EFEm-hGH gene fragments and pET22b were recycled and linked by enzymes to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) to obtain genetic expression bacteria E. Coli BL21 (DE3)/pET22b-EFEm-hGH of fusion protein EFEm-hGH. The specific methods of inoculation expression of EFEm-hGH are shown in Example 2 "2. Expression of IFN a 2a-EFEm".
[0188] The expression results are shown in FIG. 14, wherein, lane 4 shows the expression result of IPTG-induced E. Coli BL21/pET22b-EFEm-hGH (BL21) bacteria solution. The main expression form of EFEm-hGH is inclusion body, the molecular weight is about 50KD, which conforms to its theoretical value.
3. Extraction and Purification of EFEm-hGH
[0189] The specific methods of extraction and purification of EFEm-hGH is shown in Example 2 "3. Extraction and Purification of IFN a 2a-EFEm".
[0190] The renaturation purification result of protein is determined by SDS-PAGE, and shown in FIG. 15, wherein, lane 2 shows the renaturation and purification result of EFEm-hGH.
4. Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis of EFEm-hGH
[0191] The specific methods of intestinal activity analysis of EFEm-hGH are shown in Example 2 "4. Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis".
[0192] The intestinal penetration activity of EFEm-hGH was assayed by ELISA, and the results are shown in FIG. 16, indicating that hGH can be detected in blood one hour after the oral administration, and the peak concentration is achieved at 2.0 to 3.0 hours, the ELISA signal is strong.
EXAMPLE 4
Preparation and Analysis of EFEi.i59
1. Construction of Genetically Engineered Bacteria for Expressing EFEi.i59
[0193] The specific method for constructing genetically engineered bacteria for expressing EFEi_i 59 is the same as Example 1 except for the primers. The two primers designed for the construction of EFEi_i59 are as follows:
[0194] EFE-P1 (forward primer): 5 'GCCGAATTCATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA 3' (SEQ ID NO: 11) (the underlined part is an EcoRI enzyme digestion site) [0195] EFEi_i 59-P2 (reverse primer):
5 'GCGCTCGAGTTATGTGTCATTCAGCGTCA 3 ' (SEQ ID NO: 29) (the underlined part is an Xhol enzyme digestion site).
[0196] EFEi_i 59 genes were amplified by PCR. 1% agarose gel electrophoresis was performed for the amplified products, a band of about 498bp could be found, which conformed to the size of expected fragments, as shown in FIG. 17, wherein, lane 2 shows the PCR products of EFEi_i59.
[0197] The PCR products of EFEi_i59 were double digested with EcoRI and Xhol, and recovered by gel electrophoresis, then ligated to pET-32a fragments, which were also digested and recovered in the same way, to form a recombinant plasmid pET-32a- EFEi_i 59 to transform E. Coli JM109. The positive clones were identified by PCR screening using the above two primers. Plasmid pET-32a- EFEi_i59 was extracted from positive clones, and identified by double enzyme digestion of EcoR I and Xho I (FIG. 17), wherein, lane 1 shows the EcoR I/Xho I double enzyme digestion results of plasmid pET-32a-EFEi_i 59. Positive clones were used to transform E. Coli BL21 (DE3) to construct genetically engineered bacteria E.coli BL21(DE3)/ pET-32a- EFEi_i 59 for EFEi_i59 expression.
2. Expression of EFEi.159
[0198] The method for expressing of EFEi_i59 is the same as described in Example 1.
[0199] The expression of target protein is analyzed and determined by SDS-PAGE, and the results are shown in FIG. 18, wherein, lane 6 shows the expression result of EFEi_i59. The results suggest that EFEi_i59 was expressed in a large amount, the molecular weight as shown in the figure conforms to its theoretical value 37.7KD.
3. Extraction and Purification of EFEi.i59
[0200] The specific procedures for extraction and purification of EFEi_i s9 are shown in Example 1 . The results of SDS-PAGE suggest that the main expression form of EFEi_i 59 is soluble expression, as shown in FIG. 18, wherein, lane 7 indicates that the expression products of EFEi_i 59 are mainly present in the supernatant of disrupted bacteria.
[0201] SDS-PAGE analysis was performed for the eluting samples of purified soluble protein EFEi_i59 and EFEi_i59 inclusion body dissolved in 8M urea, and the results are shown in FIG. 19, the value conforms to its theoretical value, suggesting that Ni-NTA affinity chromatography can effectively purify two forms of target protein.
4. Fibrinolysis Activity Analysis of EFEi.i59
[0202] The specific procedures for fibrinolysis activity analysis of EFEi_i 59 are shown in Example 1 . The analysis results are shown in FIG. 20, wherein, c is soluble purified protein EFEi_i59, which does not produce visible transparent zones in its surroundings, suggesting that EFE 1-159 does not have fibrinolysis activity.
5. Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis of EFEi.i59
[0203] The specific procedures for performing intestinal penetration activity analysis of EFEi _i s9 are shown in Example 1 . The analysis results of intestinal penetration activity of EFE i_is9 are shown in Table 2 as below.
Table 2 ELISA Assay Results of Three Forms of EFEi_is9 and Normal Saline
Figure imgf000045_0001
[0204] It can be known from Table 2 that, except for the normal saline group, the results of all the other groups are positive; the ELISA signals of three different forms of EFEi_i59 in serum, i.e., inclusion body, renatured inclusion body and soluble protein, increase successively. The test results suggest that EFEi_i59 retains the intestinal penetration activity of EFE. EXAMPLE 5
Preparation and Analysis of EFEi.ioo-EGFP 1. Gene Synthesis of EFEi ioo-EGFP
[0205] The specific method of gene synthesis of EFEi_i0o-EGFP is the same as Example 2 except for the primers.
[0206] The primers used for amplifying amino acid residues 1 to 100 at the amino terminal of EFE gene (EFEi_ioo) are:
[0207] PI (forward primer):
GGCTCGAG|GAATTC|ATGGAACTTCCTCCCGGA (SEQ ID NO: 30) (the underline indicates Xhol enzyme digestion site, the box indicates EcoRI enzyme digestion site);
[0208] P2 (reverse primer) : GCCGGGATCCAACGTCGTTCTCTAGG (SEQ ID NO : 3 1 ) (the underline indicates BamHI enzyme digestion site)
[0209] The primers used for amplifying enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) are:
[0210] Ρ Γ (forward primer) :
GCCGGGATCCATGGTGAGCAAGGGGCGAGGAGCTGTT (SEQ ID NO : 32) (the underline indicates BamHI enzyme digestion site);
[0211] P2 ' (reverse primer) :
GCCGTCTAGATTACTGTACAGCTCGTCCATCGCCGA (SEQ ID NO : 33) (the underline indicates Xbal enzyme digestion site).
[0212] The genes of EFEi_i0o and EGFP were amplified by PCR using the plasmids containing EFE and EGFP genes as templates (pGEM-EFE and pEGFP-N3, both preserved in our laboratory).
[0213] PCR products were recovered by gel electrophoresis, and ligated to pGEM-T vector, respectively. The ligated product transformed E. coli JM109 competent cells. The positive clones were identified by PCR and restriction enzyme digestion. Recombinant plasmids pGEM-T- EFEi_ioo and pGEM-T-EGFP were extracted by alkaline lysis method in a small amount.
[0214] pGEM-T- EFEPMi_i00 and pGEM-T-EGFP were digested with BamHI and Pstl. The EGFP fragments were ligated to the cleaved pGEM-T-EFEi_ioo to obtained the recombinant plasmid pGEM-T-EFEi_ioo -EGFP.
[0215] pGEM-T-EFEi_ioo -EGFP and pET32a+ were digested with EcoRI and Notl. The EFEi_ioo -EGFP fragments were ligated to the expression vector and then transformed into E. Coli BL21 (DE3) competent cells. Positive clones were identified to obtain E. Coli BL21 (DE3)/pET32a-EFEi_ioo-EGFP genetically engineered bacteria for expression.
[0216] The restriction enzyme maps of the above-mentioned various PCR products and plasmids are shown in FIG. 21.
2. Expression, Extraction and Purification of EFEi.ioo-EGFP
[0217] E. Coli BL21(DE3)/pET32a -EFEi_i00 -EGFP was inoculated in 20 mL of LB culture medium (Amp+), and cultured overnight under 37°C, then 500 was transferred to another 20 mL of 2><YT culture medium (Amp+), IPTG was added when OD6oo is about 0.6 to the final concentration of 1 mM to induce the expression of the target protein. The bacteria were collected by centrifugation after four-hour induction.
[0218] SDS-PAGE results are shown in FIG. 22, indicating that fusion protein EFEi_ioo -EGFP achieved high-efficiency expression under appropriate induction conditions, and the molecular weight as shown conforms to its theoretical value. Western blotting was performed using anti-EGFP as the antibody, showing that the reaction result was positive.
[0219] The specific procedures of extracting and purifying EFEi_i0o-EGFP soluble expression products and inclusion bodies are shown in Example 1. 3. Intestinal Penetration Activity Analysis of EFEi.ioo-EGFP
3.1 Fluorescence Detection of Serum from Experimental Mice
[0220] Kunming mice were given intraperitoneal injection of fusion protein EFEi_ioo -EGFP and EGFP with the same concentration, and the mice serum were collected before injection and at two hours after the injection, respectively. The serum of fusion protein EFEi_i0o -EGFP injected mice (tube C) could emit fluorescence clearly, however, the serum prior to the injection (tube A) and the serum of EGFP injected mice (tube B) did not emit fluorescence, as shown in FIG. 23.
[0221] The above results suggest that the first 100 amino acids at the amino acid terminal of EFE can carry foreign protein (EGFP), which could not penetrated cell membranes, to break through cell membrane barriers and enter blood, while the foreign protein still retains its intrinsic biological function, which directly confirms that this fragment has the capability of protein transduction.
3.2 ELISA Assay of Experimental Mice
[0222] Kunming mice were given intraperitoneal injection of fusion protein EFEi_i0o-EGFP (soluble protein and renatured inclusion body protein) and EGFP at the same concentration. The same volume of saline was set as a control. Mice serum was collected at separate time points. The ELISA plates were directly coated with serum preparations, the primary antibody is rabbit-anti-EGFP IgGs, and the dilution ratio is 1 : 2000; the secondary antibody is HRP-labelled goat-anti-rabbit IgGs, and the dilution ratio is 1 : 5000.
[0223] The ELISA results are shown in FIG. 24, suggesting that both the soluble protein EFEi_ioo-EGFP and renatured inclusion body protein EFEPi_ioo -EGFP can be detected in blood after the intraperitoneal injection; while normal saline and green fluorescent protein (EGFP), which are used as controls, cannot be detected in blood after the intraperitoneal injection. [0224] The results of ELISA rough quantification and Western blotting (FIG. 25) show that about 10% of intact molecules of soluble fusion protein EFEi_ioo-EGFP can be detected in blood about 60min after the intraperitoneal injection in Kunming mice, and at the same time the peak value is achieved in mice serum. About 15% of intact molecules of renatured inclusion body protein can be detected in blood after injection, and the peak value is achieved at 180min after the injection.
[0225] Similarly, Sandwich ELISA was used to detect the EFE in the serum of mice that had received intraperitoneal injection (the coating antibody was polyclonal anti-EFE IgGs, the dilution ratio was 1 : 500; the secondary antibody was HRP cross-linked polyclonal anti-EFE IgGs, and the dilution ratio was 1 : 100), the obtained data trend was comparable to FIG. 24.
[0226] The above results suggest that the first 100 amino acids at the amino acid terminal of EFE can carry foreign protein (EGFP), which could not have penetrated cell membranes, to break through cell membrane barriers and enter blood of test animals, which directly confirms that this fragment has the capability of protein transduction, and the cell penetrating peptide and transducted protein still retain their respective immunological characteristics.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. An isolated cell-penetrating polypeptide, which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 or an amino acid sequence having at least 70% homology to SEQ ID NO: 2, and the polypeptide does not contain the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.
2. The isolated polypeptide of claim 1, wherein the polypeptide has between 100 amino acids and 246 amino acids.
3. The isolated polypeptide of claim 2, wherein the polypeptide has between 100 amino acids and 159 amino acids.
4. The isolated polypeptide of claim 2, wherein the polypeptide has any of the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 2-4.
5. A transport complex, which comprises a transport moiety containing the polypeptide of claim 1, and a cargo molecule.
6. The transport complex of claim 5, wherein the cargo molecule is a chemical compound.
7. The transport complex of claim 5, wherein the cargo molecule is a biomacromolecule.
8. The transport complex of claim 7, wherein the biomacromolecule is a polypeptide or a polynucleotide.
9. The transport complex of claim 8, wherein the biomacromolecule is human interferon-a 2a, human growth hormone, or enhanced green fluorescent protein.
10. The transport complex of claim 5, wherein the transport moiety is covalently linked to the cargo molecule through a linker.
11. The transport complex of claim 10, wherein the transport moiety is covalently linked at its amino terminal to the carboxyl terminal of the cargo molecule through a linker.
12. The transport complex of claim 10, wherein the transport moiety is covalently linked at its carboxyl terminal to the amino terminal of the cargo molecule through a linker.
13. The transport complex of claim 10, wherein the linker is a flexible peptide with an amino acid sequence of GGSGSGGSGGSGSGG, GGGGSGGGGSGGGGS or GS.
14. The transport complex of claim 11, wherein the cargo molecule is human interferon-a 2a.
15. The transport complex of claim 12, wherein the cargo molecule is human growth hormone.
16. The transport complex of claim 12, wherein the cargo molecule is enhanced green fluorescent protein.
17. A pharmaceutical composition, comprising the transport complex of claim 5 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
18. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 17, wherein the composition is an oral formulation, an injection formulation, a mouth spray formulation or a nasal spray formulation.
19. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 17, comprising at least one other drug.
20. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 19, wherein the other drug is an antiviral drug.
21. A method of delivering a cargo molecule across a cell in a subject, which comprises administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety containing the polypeptide of claim 1, and the cargo molecule.
22. An isolated nucleic acid, which comprises the nucleic acid sequence encoding the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide of claim 1.
23. The nucleic acid of claim 22, which comprises any of the nucleic acid sequences of SEQ ID NOs: 6-8.
24. A method of producing the polypeptide of claim 1, comprising: i) expressing an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide of claim 1 in a host cell under a condition allowing expression of the polypeptide; ii) harvesting and purifying the expressed polypeptide.
25. Use of the polypeptide of claim 1 for delivering a cargo molecule to a cell in a subject, which comprises administering the subject with a pharmaceutical composition comprising a transport complex comprising a transport moiety containing the polypeptide of claim 1, and the cargo molecule.
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