A novel small peptide as a targeting ligand for receptor tyrosine kinase Tie2

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2004 Mar 19;315(4):1004-10. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2004.01.157.

Abstract

Tie2 is an endothelium-specific receptor tyrosine kinase known to play an important role in tumor angiogenesis. We sought to identify a small peptide ligand against Tie2 for developing a delivery targeting agent. We used hydrophobic analysis and comparative sequence/structure analysis to select a minimal peptide based on angiopoietin-2 amino acid sequence. The resulting peptide named GA3(WTIIQRREDGSVDFQRTWKEYK) was synthesized and labeled with iodine-125 at the C-terminal tyrosine residue to characterize its binding capability. In in vitro binding assays, GA3 can not only specifically bind to SMMC7721-Tie2 but also compete with angiopoietin-2 in binding. Via mouse tail vein injection, 125I-labeled GA3 was found to favorably accumulate in SPC-A1 xenograft tumor tissues which positively express Tie2. These results demonstrated that GA3 may be useful as a drug or gene delivery ligand for targeted chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and gene therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Angiopoietin-2 / chemistry
  • Angiopoietin-2 / genetics
  • Animals
  • Biological Availability
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Ligands
  • Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Nude
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / pharmacokinetics
  • Peptides / pharmacology*
  • Radioligand Assay
  • Receptor, TIE-2 / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Receptor, TIE-2 / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, Protein / methods
  • Tissue Distribution

Substances

  • Angiopoietin-2
  • Ligands
  • Peptides
  • Receptor, TIE-2