Cloning and Expression of Recombinant Human GMCSF From Pichia pastoris GS115-A Progressive Strategy for Economic Production

Human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hGMCSF) is a proinflammatory cytokine and hematopoietic growth factor. Recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor (rhGMCSF) serves as a biotherapeutic agent in bone marrow stimulations, vaccine development, gene therapy approaches, and stem cell mobilization. The objective of the present study includes construction of rhGMCSF having N-terminal intein tag, expression of protein both extracellularly and intracellularly from yeast expression system followed by its purification in a single step by affinity chromatography. The soluble and biologically active rhGMCSF was obtained from Pichia pastoris GS115. About 122 g DCW/L of final yield was obtained for both cytosolic and secretory expression of Pichia GS115 strain. Purified intracellular hGMCSF was 420 mg/L with a specific activity of 2.1 x 10(8) IU/mg, and the purified extracellular recombinant protein was 360 mg/L with a specific activity of 1.9 x 10(8) IU/mg. The data presented here indicate the possibilities of exploring the economic ways of producing the rhGMCSF.