Ferritin-Displayed GLP-1 with Improved Pharmacological Activities and Pharmacokinetics

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.0c00098
• Publication Date: 2020-04-03T20:58:44Z
• Authors: Wencheng Su; Huanbo Tan; Robert Janowski; Wenyu Zhang; Pengju Wang; Jie Zhang; Huanhuan Zhai; Jian Li; Dierk Niessing; Michael Sattler; Peijian Zou
• Keywords: Blood Glucose; 0301 basic medicine; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Glucagon-Like Peptide 1; Ferritins; Escherichia coli; Animals; Hypoglycemic Agents; Insulin

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an incretin (a type of metabolic hormone that stimulates a decrease in blood glucose levels), holding great potential for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, its extremely short half-life of 1-2 min hampers any direct clinical application. Here, we describe the application of the heavy chain of human ferritin (HFt) nanocage as a carrier to improve the pharmacological properties of GLP-1. The GLP-HFt was designed by genetic fusion of GLP-1 to the N-terminus of HFt and was expressed in inclusion bodies in E. coli. The refolding process was developed to obtain a soluble GLP-HFt protein. The biophysical properties determined by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), dynamic light scattering (DLS), circular dichroism (CD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray crystallography verified that the GLP-HFt successfully formed a 24-mer nanocage with GLP-1 displayed on the external surface of HFt. The in vivo pharmacodynamic results demonstrated that the GLP-HFt nanocage retained the bioactivity of natural GLP-1, significantly reduced the blood glucose levels for at least 24 h in a dose-dependent manner, and inhibited food intake for at least 8-10 h. The half-life of the GLP-HFt nanocage was approximately 52 h in mice after subcutaneous injection. The prolonged half-life and sustained control of blood glucose levels indicate that the GLP-HFt nanocage can be further developed for the treatment of T2DM. Meanwhile, the HFt nanocage proves its great potential as a universal carrier that improves the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of a wide range of therapeutic peptides and proteins.