Chemistry Commons^™

Expression Of Biologically Active Human Corticosteroid Binding Globulin By Insect Cells: Acquisition Of Function Requires Glycosylation And Transport, Jayasri Ghose-Dastidar, J. B. Alexander Ross, Reza Green

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Human corticosteroid binding globulin (hCBG) is a 50- to 55-kDa serum glycoprotein that binds cortisol and progesterone with high affinity. To map the steroid-binding domain and to investigate the folding pathways of hCBG, we have established an expression system based on infection of insect cells with a recombinant baculovirus encoding hCBG. Infected Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells secrete immunoreactive hCBG at high levels (16-24 pmol per 10⁶ cells per 40 h), and the recombinant protein binds cortisol with an affinity and specificity equivalent to that of human serum-derived hCBG. Thus, this system has the potential to provide large amounts of …