Synthesis, solution conformation and interleukin-6-related activities of interleukin-6 peptides

Synthesis and spectroscopic properties of 4-ethoxymethylene-2-(1)-naphthyl-5(4H)-oxazolone-labeled fluorescent peptides

Strategies for the preparation of new fluorescent oligopeptide conjugates labeled with 4-ethoxymethylene-2-[1]-naphthyl-5(4H)-oxazolone (naOx-OEt) at the N-terminal on solid support or in solution have been devised. These procedures are simple and easy to carry out by reacting naOx-OEt or N(alpha)-naOx-amino acid with side chain protected peptide chains attached to resins. The integrity of the N-alkyl bond was maintained even after the trifluoracetic acid or HF based cleavages procedures. Our data show that the naOx fluorophore is compatible with both Fmoc/tBu and Boc/Bzl methods and also suggest that naOx-amino acid could be utilized as building blocks for solid phase peptide synthesis. Comparative analysis of fluorescence properties of naOx-conjugates indicated that the spectral properties of the fluorophore do not change after incorporating into peptides. The compact size, the definite chemical reaction for its introduction in combination with the appropriate spectral features (e.g., intense emission, pH independent fluorescent characteristics, and beneficial photobleaching dose constant and rates) and with chemical and spectral stability, naOx-based labeling could be attractive for novel cellular fluorescent techniques (e.g., in laser scanning confocal FRET) to study peptide-protein and protein-protein interactions even in biological matrices.

G-CSF receptor-binding cyclic peptides designed with artificial amino-acid linkers

Designing small molecules that mimic the receptor-binding local surface structure of large proteins such as cytokines or growth factors is fascinating and challenging. In this study, we designed cyclic peptides that reproduce the receptor-binding loop structures of G-CSF. We found it is important to select a suitable linker to join two or more discontinuous sequences and both termini of the peptide corresponding to the receptor-binding loop. Structural simulations based on the crystallographic structure of KW-2228, a stable and potent analog of human G-CSF, led us to choose 4-aminobenzoic acid (Abz) as a part of the linker. A combination of 4-Abz with beta-alanine or glycine, and disulfide bridges between cysteins or homocysteins, gave a structure suitable for receptor binding. In this structure, the side-chains of several amino acids important for the interactions with the receptor are protruding from one side of the peptide ring. This artificial peptide showed G-CSF antagonistic activity in a cell proliferation assay.

Interleukin-6 N-terminal peptides modulate the expression of junB protooncogene and the production of fibrinogen in HepG2 cells

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a helical cytokine exerting pleiotropic activities including the regulation of hematopoiesis, B cell activation and acute-phase reaction. The structure-function relationship of the molecule is the subject of intensive investigation using point and deletion mutants. Our objective was to analyse the role of the N-terminal 18-46 region in IL-6-mediated expression of junB protooncogene and fibrinogen production, reflecting the acute phase response, with synthetic overlapping peptides. mRNA expression of junB was monitored by competitive RT-PCR, while sandwich ELISA was used for the detection of fibrinogen in the supernatant of HepG2 human hepatoma cells. We found that even short synthetic octapeptides can be stimulatory (in the absence of IL-6) or inhibitory (in the presence of IL-6) in both assays. To establish the molecular mechanism by which synthetic peptides exert their biological effects electromobility shift assay was carried out using HepG2 nuclear extracts. Peptides inducing junB expression initiate gel shifts of STAT3/DNA complexes, which may indicate the involvement of this signal transduction pathway. Circular dicroism spectroscopy data suggest that 8-11-mer peptides representing different parts of the 18-46 region have a marked tendency to adopt ordered conformations in a water/trifluoroethanol (1:1 v/v) mixture. Competition studies with rhIL-6 and selected fluorophore-labelled peptides indicate the presence of more than one binding site on soluble IL-6 receptor. Considering the possible multiple etiologic role of IL-6 in the pathogenesis of various diseases, these peptides could be useful for dissection of IL-6 related biological effects.

C-terminal peptides of interleukin-6 modulate the expression of junB protooncogene and the production of fibrinogen by HepG2 cells

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a 185 amino acid residue helical cytokine with various biological activities (e. g. B cell development, acute phase reaction). We have investigated the role of the 168-185 C-terminal region of IL-6 in the induction of fibrinogen synthesis and expression of junB mRNA using synthetic peptides corresponding to this region. Circular dichroism spectroscopy data suggest that even truncated peptides have a strong tendency to adopt an ordered conformation. Peptides were tested alone or in combination with recombinant hIL-6 on an IL-6 responsive human hepatoma HepG2 cell line. The expression of the protooncogene junB monitored by competitive RT-PCR represents an early, while the fibrinogen production detected by sandwich ELISA a late, marker of IL-6 initiated events. We found that peptides--depending on their structure--modulate spontaneous as well as IL-6 induced fibrinogen production and/or mRNA expression of junB by exhibiting inhibition (in the presence of IL-6) or stimulation (in the absence of IL-6).