Coexpression of novel furin-resistant LPL variants with lipase maturation factor 1 enhances LPL secretion and activity

Abstract

LPL is a secreted enzyme that hydrolyzes triglycerides from circulating lipoproteins. Individuals lacking LPL suffer from severe hypertriglyceridemia, a risk factor for acute pancreatitis. One potential treatment is to administer recombinant LPL as a protein therapeutic. However, use of LPL as a protein therapeutic is limited because it is an unstable enzyme that is difficult to produce in large quantities. Furthermore, these considerations also limit structural and biochemical studies that are needed for large-scale drug discovery efforts. We demonstrate that the yield of purified LPL can be dramatically enhanced by coexpressing its maturation factor, LMF1, and by introducing novel mutations into the LPL sequence to render it resistant to proteolytic cleavage by furin. One of these mutations introduces a motif for addition of an N-linked glycan to the furin-recognition site. Furin-resistant LPL has previously been reported, but is not commonly used. We show that our modifications do not adversely alter LPL's enzymatic activity, stability, or in vivo function. Together, these data show that furin-resistant LPL is a useful reagent for both biochemical and biomedical studies.