Characterization of Affitin proteolytic digestion in biorelevant media and improvement of their stabilities via protein engineering.

ABSTRACT: Affitins are a novel class of small 7 kDa artificial proteins which can be used as antibody substitutes in therapeutic, diagnostic and biotechnological applications. One challenge for this type of protein agent is their behaviour in the context of oral administration. The digestive system is central, and biorelevant media have fast emerged as relevant and reliable tools for evaluating the bioavailability of drugs. This study describes, for the first time, the stability of Affitins under simulated gastric and intestinal digestion conditions. Affitins appear to be degraded into stable fragments in in vitro gastric medium. We identified cleavage sites generated by pepsin that were silenced by site-directed mutagenesis. This protein engineering allowed us to enhance Affitin properties. We show

SUBMITTER: Loussouarn A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7661517 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature