Site-Specific and Covalent Immobilization of His-Tagged Proteins via Surface Vinyl Sulfone-Imidazole Coupling

A bioactive sprite: Recent advances in the application of vinyl sulfones in drug design and organic synthesis

Vinyl sulfones, with their exceptional chemical properties, are known as the "chameleons" of organic synthesis and are widely used in the preparation of various sulfur-containing structures. However, their most alluring feature lies in their biological activity. The vinyl sulfone skeleton is ubiquitous in natural products and drug molecules and boasts a unique molecular structure and drug activity when compared to conventional drug molecules. As a result, vinyl sulfones have been extensively studied, playing a critical role in organic synthesis and pharmaceutical chemistry. In this review, we present a comprehensive analysis of the recent applications of vinyl sulfone structures in drug design, biology, and chemical synthesis. Furthermore, we explore the prospects of vinyl sulfones in diverse fields, offering insight into their potential future applications.

Capturing Legionella pneumophila effector enzymes using a ubiquitin derived photo-activatable probe

Upon infection of host cells the Legionella pneumophila bacterium releases a multitude of effector enzymes into the host's cytoplasm that manipulate cellular host pathways, including the host-ubiquitination pathways. The effectors belonging to the SidE-family are involved in non-canonical phosphoribosyl serine ubiquitination (PR-ubiquitination) of host substrate proteins. This results in the recruitment of ER-remodeling proteins and the formation of a Legionella-containing vacuole which is crucial in the onset of legionnaires disease. PR-ubiquitination is a dynamic process reversed by other Legionella effectors called Dups. During PR-Ubiquitin phosphodiester hydrolysis Dups form a covalent intermediate with the phosphoribosyl ubiquitylated protein using its active site His67 residue. We envisioned that covalent probes to target Legionella effectors could be of value to study these effectors and contribute to deciphering the complex biology of Legionella infection. Hence we effectively installed a photo-activatable pyridinium warhead on the 5'-OH of triazole-linked ribosylated ubiquitin allowing crosslinking of the probe to the catalytic histidine residues in Legionella SidE or Dup enzymes. In vitro tests on recombinantly expressed DupA and SdeAPDE revealed that the probe was able to capture the enzymes covalently upon photo-activation.

Improvement of combined cross-linked enzyme aggregates of cyclodextrin glucanotransferase and maltogenic amylase by functionalization of cross-linker for maltooligosaccharides synthesis

Combined cross-linked enzyme aggregates of cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) and maltogenic amylase (Mag1) from Bacillus lehensis G1 (Combi-CLEAs-CM) were successfully developed to synthesis maltooligosaccharides (MOS). Yet, the poor cross-linking performance between chitosan (cross-linker) and enzymes resulting low activity recovery and catalytic efficiency. In this study, we proposed the functionalization of cross-linkers with the integration of computational analysis to study the influences of different functional group on cross-linkers in combi-CLEAs development. From in-silico analysis, O-carboxymethyl chitosan (OCMCS) with the highest binding affinity toward both enzymes was chosen and showed alignment with the experimental result, in which OCMCS was synthesized as cross-linker to develop improved activity recovery of Combi-CLEAs-CM-ocmcs (74 %). The thermal stability and deactivation energy (205.86 kJ/mol) of Combi-CLEAs-CM-ocmcs were found to be higher than Combi-CLEAs-CM (192.59 kJ/mol). The introduction of longer side chain of carboxymethyl group led to a more flexible structure of Combi-CLEAs-CM-ocmcs. This alteration significantly reduced the Km value of Combi-CLEAs-CM-ocmcs by about 3.64-fold and resulted in a greater Kcat/Km (3.63-fold higher) as compared to Combi-CLEAs-CM. Moreover, Combi-CLEAs-CM-ocmcs improved the reusability with retained >50 % of activity while Combi-CLEAs-CM only 36.18 % after five cycles. Finally, maximum MOS production (777.46 mg/g) was obtained by Combi-CLEAs-CM-ocmcs after optimization using response surface methodology.

Advancements in enzyme immobilization on magnetic nanomaterials: toward sustainable industrial applications

Enzymes are widely used in biofuels, food, and pharmaceuticals. The immobilization of enzymes on solid supports, particularly magnetic nanomaterials, enhances their stability and catalytic activity. Magnetic nanomaterials are chosen for their versatility, large surface area, and superparamagnetic properties, which allow for easy separation and reuse in industrial processes. Researchers focus on the synthesis of appropriate nanomaterials tailored for specific purposes. Immobilization protocols are predefined and adapted to both enzymes and support requirements for optimal efficiency. This review provides a detailed exploration of the application of magnetic nanomaterials in enzyme immobilization protocols. It covers methods, challenges, advantages, and future perspectives, starting with general aspects of magnetic nanomaterials, their synthesis, and applications as matrices for solid enzyme stabilization. The discussion then delves into existing enzymatic immobilization methods on magnetic nanomaterials, highlighting advantages, challenges, and potential applications. Further sections explore the industrial use of various enzymes immobilized on these materials, the development of enzyme-based bioreactors, and prospects for these biocatalysts. In summary, this review provides a concise comparison of the use of magnetic nanomaterials for enzyme stabilization, highlighting potential industrial applications and contributing to manufacturing optimization.

Embedding Thiols into Choline Phosphate Polymer Zwitterions

The compositional scope of polymer zwitterions has grown significantly in recent years and now offers designer synthetic materials that are broadly applicable across numerous areas, including supracolloidal structures, electronic materials interfaces, and macromolecular therapeutics. Among recent developments in polymer zwitterion syntheses are those that allow insertion of reactive functionality directly into the zwitterionic moiety, yielding new monomer and polymer structures that hold potential for maximizing the impact of zwitterions on the macromolecular materials chemistry field. This manuscript describes the preparation of zwitterionic choline phosphate (CP) methacrylates containing either aromatic or aliphatic thiols embedded directly into the zwitterionic moiety. The polymerization of these functional CP methacrylates by reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer methodology yields polymeric zwitterionic thiols containing protected thiol functionality in the zwitterionic units. After polymerization, the protected thiols are liberated to yield thiol-rich polymer zwitterions which serve as precursors to subsequent reactions that produce polymer networks as well as polymer-protein bioconjugates.

Protein-based bioactive coatings: from nanoarchitectonics to applications

Protein-based bioactive coatings have emerged as a versatile and promising strategy for enhancing the performance and biocompatibility of diverse biomedical materials and devices. Through surface modification, these coatings confer novel biofunctional attributes, rendering the material highly bioactive. Their widespread adoption across various domains in recent years underscores their importance. This review systematically elucidates the behavior of protein-based bioactive coatings in organisms and expounds on their underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, it highlights notable advancements in artificial synthesis methodologies and their functional applications in vitro. A focal point is the delineation of assembly strategies employed in crafting protein-based bioactive coatings, which provides a guide for their expansion and sustained implementation. Finally, the current trends, challenges, and future directions of protein-based bioactive coatings are discussed.

Advances and Challenges in Nanomaterial-Based Electrochemical Immunosensors for Small Cell Lung Cancer Biomarker Neuron-Specific Enolase

Early and rapid detection of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) is highly significant, as it is putative biomarker for small-cell lung cancer as well as COVID-19. Electrochemical techniques have attracted substantial attention for the early detection of cancer biomarkers due to the important properties of simplicity, high sensitivity, specificity, low cost, and point-of-care detection. This work reviews the clinically relevant labeled and label-free electrochemical immunosensors developed so far for the analysis of NSE. The prevailing role of nanostructured materials as electrode matrices is thoroughly discussed. Subsequently, the key performances of various immunoassays are critically evaluated in terms of limit of detection, linear ranges, and incubation time for clinical translation. Electrochemical techniques coupled with screen-printed electrodes developing market level commercialization of NSE sensors is also discussed. Finally, the review concludes with the current challenges associated with available methods and provides a future outlook toward commercialization opportunities for easy detection of NSE.

Boronic Acid Resin for Selective Immobilization of Canonically Encoded Proteins

The use of transition-metal-mediated boronic acid chemistry presents a novel method of protein immobilization on a solid support. This is a one-step method that site-selectively immobilizes pyroglutamate-histidine (pGH)-tagged proteins. Herein, we describe the synthesis of alkenylboronic acid-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol) acrylamide (PEGA) resin and its subsequent reactions with pGH-tagged proteins to produce covalent linkages. The selectivity of immobilization is demonstrated within fluorescent studies, model mixtures, and lysates.

Comparison of Four Immobilization Methods for Different Transaminases

Biocatalytic syntheses often require unfavorable conditions, which can adversely affect enzyme stability. Consequently, improving the stability of biocatalysts is needed, and this is often achieved by immobilization. In this study, we aimed to compare the stability of soluble and immobilized transaminases from different species. A cysteine in a consensus sequence was converted to a single aldehyde by the formylglycine-generating enzyme for directed single-point attachment to amine beads. This immobilization was compared to cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) and multipoint attachments to glutaraldehyde-functionalized amine- and epoxy-beads. Subsequently, the reactivity and stability (i.e., thermal, storage, and solvent stability) of all soluble and immobilized transaminases were analyzed and compared under different conditions. The effect of immobilization was highly dependent on the type of enzyme, the immobilization strategy, and the application itself, with no superior immobilization technique identified. Immobilization of HAGA-beads often resulted in the highest activities of up to 62 U/g beads, and amine beads were best for the hexameric transaminase from Luminiphilus syltensis. Furthermore, the immobilization of transaminases enabled its reusability for at least 10 cycles, while maintaining full or high activity. Upscaled kinetic resolutions (partially performed in a SpinChemTM reactor) resulted in a high conversion, maintained enantioselectivity, and high product yields, demonstrating their applicability.

Surface Functionalization and Texturing of Optical Metasurfaces for Sensing Applications

Optical metasurfaces are planar metamaterials that can mediate highly precise light-matter interactions. Because of their unique optical properties, both plasmonic and dielectric metasurfaces have found common use in sensing applications, enabling label-free, nondestructive, and miniaturized sensors with ultralow limits of detection. However, because bare metasurfaces inherently lack target specificity, their applications have driven the development of surface modification techniques that provide selectivity. Both chemical functionalization and physical texturing methodologies can modify and enhance metasurface properties by selectively capturing analytes at the surface and altering the transduction of light-matter interactions into optical signals. This review summarizes recent advances in material-specific surface functionalization and texturing as applied to representative optical metasurfaces. We also present an overview of the underlying chemistry driving functionalization and texturing processes, including detailed directions for their broad implementation. Overall, this review provides a concise and centralized guide for the modification of metasurfaces with a focus toward sensing applications.

Histidine-Specific Bioconjugation for Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) based single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) is a powerful tool to study the mechanical properties of proteins. In these experiments, site-specific immobilization of proteins is critical, as the tether determines the direction and amplitude of forces applied to the protein of interest. However, existing methods are mainly based on thiol chemistry or specific protein tags, which cannot meet the need of many challenging experiments. Here, we developed a histidine-specific phosphorylation strategy to covalently anchor proteins to an AFM cantilever tip or the substrate via their histidine tag or surface-exposed histidine residues. The formed covalent linkage was mechanically stable with rupture forces of over 1.3 nN. This protein immobilization method considerably improved the pickup rate and data quality of SMFS experiments. We further demonstrated the use of this method to explore the pulling-direction-dependent mechanical stability of green fluorescent protein and the unfolding of the membrane protein archaerhodopsin-3.

Putting precision and elegance in enzyme immobilisation with bio-orthogonal chemistry

The covalent immobilisation of enzymes generally involves the use of highly reactive crosslinkers, such as glutaraldehyde, to couple enzyme molecules to each other or to carriers through, for example, the free amino groups of lysine residues, on the enzyme surface. Unfortunately, such methods suffer from a lack of precision. Random formation of covalent linkages with reactive functional groups in the enzyme leads to disruption of the three dimensional structure and accompanying activity losses. This review focuses on recent advances in the use of bio-orthogonal chemistry in conjunction with rec-DNA to affect highly precise immobilisation of enzymes. In this way, cost-effective combination of production, purification and immobilisation of an enzyme is achieved, in a single unit operation with a high degree of precision. Various bio-orthogonal techniques for putting this precision and elegance into enzyme immobilisation are elaborated. These include, for example, fusing (grafting) peptide or protein tags to the target enzyme that enable its immobilisation in cell lysate or incorporating non-standard amino acids that enable the application of bio-orthogonal chemistry.

Sortase-mediated immobilization of Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) on graphene oxide; comparison with chemical approach

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Sortase A was used for the oriented immobilization of CalB on graphene oxide nanosheets

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Random attachment of CalB on GO nanosheets were performed by chemical immobilization

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The immobilized CalB were used for the enrichment of omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil

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The derivative obtained from oriented immobilization showed improved selectivity

In this study, Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) was covalently immobilized on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles by sortase-mediated immobilization as well as a chemical attachment approach. Sortase is a transpeptidase that provides one-step purification and targeted immobilization of CalB from one specific site, presenting oriented attachment of the enzyme to a solid support. Chemical immobilization, on the other hand, is considered as a random immobilization, in which the protein can bind to the support from different regions of the protein surface. In this approach, amine-functionalized GO was further modified with glutaraldehyde to facilitate the covalent binding of CalB via its amine residues. The applied methods produced 60% and 100% immobilization yields and presented 0.106 U/mg and 0.085 U/mg of specific activities for the oriented and random immobilization, respectively. The stabilized enzyme with the sortase-mediated approach retained approximately 80% of its initial activity at 50°C.

Antibody-Incorporated Nanomedicines for Cancer Therapy

Antibody-based cancer therapy, one of the most significant therapeutic strategies, has achieved considerable success and progress over the past decades. Nevertheless, obstacles including limited tumor penetration, short circulation half-lives, undesired immunogenicity, and off-target side effects remain to be overcome for the antibody-based cancer treatment. Owing to the rapid development of nanotechnology, antibody-containing nanomedicines that have been extensively explored to overcome these obstacles have already demonstrated enhanced anticancer efficacy and clinical translation potential. This review intends to offer an overview of the advancements of antibody-incorporated nanoparticulate systems in cancer treatment, together with the nontrivial challenges faced by these next-generation nanomedicines. Diverse strategies of antibody immobilization, formats of antibodies, types of cancer-associated antigens, and anticancer mechanisms of antibody-containing nanomedicines are provided and discussed in this review, with an emphasis on the latest applications. The current limitations and future research directions on antibody-containing nanomedicines are also discussed from different perspectives to provide new insights into the construction of anticancer nanomedicines.

Stabilization of enzymes via immobilization: Multipoint covalent attachment and other stabilization strategies

The use of enzymes in industrial processes requires the improvement of their features in many instances. Enzyme immobilization, a requirement to facilitate the recovery and reuse of these water-soluble catalysts, is one of the tools that researchers may utilize to improve many of their properties. This review is focused on how enzyme immobilization may improve enzyme stability. Starting from the stabilization effects that an enzyme may experience by the mere fact of being inside a solid particle, we detail other possibilities to stabilize enzymes: generation of favorable enzyme environments, prevention of enzyme subunit dissociation in multimeric enzymes, generation of more stable enzyme conformations, or enzyme rigidification via multipoint covalent attachment. In this last point, we will discuss the features of an "ideal" immobilization protocol to maximize the intensity of the enzyme-support interactions. The most interesting active groups in the support (glutaraldehyde, epoxide, glyoxyl and vinyl sulfone) will be also presented, discussing their main properties and uses. Some instances in which the number of enzyme-support bonds is not directly related to a higher stabilization will be also presented. Finally, the possibility of coupling site-directed mutagenesis or chemical modification to get a more intense multipoint covalent immobilization will be discussed.

Surface Engineering of Graphene through Heterobifunctional Supramolecular-Covalent Scaffolds for Rapid COVID-19 Biomarker Detection

Graphene is a two-dimensional semiconducting material whose application for diagnostics has been a real game-changer in terms of sensitivity and response time, variables of paramount importance to stop the COVID-19 spreading. Nevertheless, strategies for the modification of docking recognition and antifouling elements to obtain covalent-like stability without the disruption of the graphene band structure are still needed. In this work, we conducted surface engineering of graphene through heterofunctional supramolecular-covalent scaffolds based on vinylsulfonated-polyamines (PA-VS). In these scaffolds, one side binds graphene through multivalent π-π interactions with pyrene groups, and the other side presents vinylsulfonated pending groups that can be used for covalent binding. The construction of PA-VS scaffolds was demonstrated by spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. The covalent binding of -SH, -NH₂, or -OH groups was confirmed, and it evidenced great chemical versatility. After field-effect studies, we found that the PA-VS-based scaffolds do not disrupt the semiconducting properties of graphene. Moreover, the scaffolds were covalently modified with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), which improved the resistance to nonspecific proteins by almost 7-fold compared to the widely used PEG-monopyrene approach. The attachment of recognition elements to PA-VS was optimized for concanavalin A (ConA), a model lectin with a high affinity to glycans. Lastly, the platform was implemented for the rapid, sensitive, and regenerable recognition of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and human ferritin in lab-made samples. Those two are the target molecules of major importance for the rapid detection and monitoring of COVID-19-positive patients. For that purpose, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were bound to the scaffolds, resulting in a surface coverage of 436 ± 30 ng/cm². K_D affinity constants of 48.4 and 2.54 nM were obtained by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and human ferritin binding on these supramolecular scaffolds, respectively.

Radiolabeling of Human Serum Albumin With Terbium-161 Using Mild Conditions and Evaluation of in vivo Stability

Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRNT) is a promising approach for cancer therapy. Terbium has four medically interesting isotopes (¹⁴⁹Tb, ¹⁵²Tb, ¹⁵⁵Tb and ¹⁶¹Tb) which span the entire radiopharmaceutical space (TRNT, PET and SPECT imaging). Since the same element is used, accessing the various diagnostic or therapeutic properties without changing radiochemical procedures and pharmacokinetic properties is advantageous. The use of (heat-sensitive) biomolecules as vector molecule with high affinity and selectivity for a certain molecular target is promising. However, mild radiolabeling conditions are required to prevent thermal degradation of the biomolecule. Herein, we report the evaluation of potential bifunctional chelators for Tb-labeling of heat-sensitive biomolecules using human serum albumin (HSA) to assess the in vivo stability of the constructs. p-SCN-Bn-CHX-A”-DTPA, p-SCN-Bn-DOTA, p-NCS-Bz-DOTA-GA and p-SCN-3p-C-NETA were conjugated to HSA via a lysine coupling method. All HSA-constructs were labeled with [¹⁶¹Tb]TbCl₃ at 40°C with radiochemical yields higher than 98%. The radiolabeled constructs were stable in human serum up to 24 h at 37°C. ¹⁶¹Tb-HSA-constructs were injected in mice to evaluate their in vivo stability. Increasing bone accumulation as a function of time was observed for [¹⁶¹Tb]TbCl₃ and [¹⁶¹Tb]Tb-DTPA-CHX-A”-Bn-HSA, while negligible bone uptake was observed with the DOTA, DOTA-GA and NETA variants over a 7-day period. The results indicate that the p-SCN-Bn-DOTA, p-NCS-Bz-DOTA-GA and p-SCN-3p-C-NETA are suitable bifunctional ligands for Tb-based radiopharmaceuticals, allowing for high yield radiolabeling in mild conditions.

Chemical and physical Chitosan modification for designing enzymatic industrial biocatalysts: How to choose the best strategy?

Chitosan is one of the most abundant natural polymer worldwide, and due to its inherent characteristics, its use in industrial processes has been extensively explored. Because it is biodegradable, biocompatible, non-toxic, hydrophilic, cheap, and has good physical-chemical stability, it is seen as an excellent alternative for the replacement of synthetic materials in the search for more sustainable production methodologies. Thus being, a possible biotechnological application of Chitosan is as a direct support for enzyme immobilization. However, its applicability is quite specific, and to overcome this issue, alternative pretreatments are required, such as chemical and physical modifications to its structure, enabling its use in a wider array of applications. This review aims to present the topic in detail, by exploring and discussing methods of employment of Chitosan in enzymatic immobilization processes with various enzymes, presenting its advantages and disadvantages, as well as listing possible chemical modifications and combinations with other compounds for formulating an ideal support for this purpose. First, we will present Chitosan emphasizing its characteristics that allow its use as enzyme support. Furthermore, we will discuss possible physicochemical modifications that can be made to Chitosan, mentioning the improvements obtained in each process. These discussions will enable a comprehensive comparison between, and an informed choice of, the best technologies concerning enzyme immobilization and the application conditions of the biocatalyst.

nSite-Selective, Chemical Modification of Protein at Aromatic Side Chain and Their Emergent Applications

Site-selective chemical modification of protein side chain has probed enormous opportunities in the fundamental understanding of cellular biology and therapeutic applications. Primarily, in the field of biopharmaceutical where formulation of bioconjugates is found to be potential medicine than an individual constituent. In this regard, Lysine and Cysteine are the most widely used endogenous amino acid for these purposes. Recently, the aromatic side chain residues (Trp, Tyr, and His) that are low abundant in protein have gained more attention in therapeutic applications due to their advantages of chemical reactivity and specificity. This review discusses the site-selective bioconjugation methods for aromatic side chains (Trp, Tyr and His) and highlights the developed strategies in the last three years, along with their applications. Also, the review highlights the prevalent methods published earlier. We have examined that metal-catalyzed and photocatalytic reactions are gaining more attention for bioconjugation, though their practical operation is under development. The review has been summarized with the future perspective of protein and peptide conjugations contemplating therapeutic applications and challenges.

Controlling Conjugated Antibodies at the Molecular Level for Active Targeting Nanoparticles toward HER2-Positive Cancer Cells

For active targeting nanodrug delivery systems conjugated with antibodies, both lack of control of the antibody at the molecular level and protein corona formation remarkably decreases targeting efficacy. Herein, we designed a series of silica nanoparticles toward HER2-positive breast cancer cells, with an anti-HER2 Fab-6His density ranging from 50 to 180 molecules per nanoparticle. Through the site-directed immobilization method we developed, the antigen-binding domain of anti-HER2 Fab was mostly accessible to the HER2 receptor. Both polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains and a high density of Fab were shown to suppress protein corona formation and macrophage uptake. The dependency of targeting efficacy and cytotoxicity on Fab density was shown using a series of breast cancer cell lines with different levels of the HER2 expression. The high density of Fab stimulates quick responses from HER2-positive cells. Combined with PEG chains, conjugated antibodies with a well-controlled orientation and density significantly improves delivery performance and sheds light on the design and preparation of an improved active targeting nanodrug delivery system.