Purification and characterization of a bioactive alpha-fetoprotein produced by HEK-293Â cells

- Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was a biomarker for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and it could promote malignant behaviors in HCC.
- AFP is an important target in the treatment of live cancer.
- In order to obtain a certain amount of actived AFP for screening AFP inhibitor, in the present study, we first express and purify this protein in HEK-293 cells.
- We also analyzed the bioactivity of the rAFP (recombinant expression AFP in HEK-293 cells), it found that the rAFP was able to promote the growth of the human HCC cells.
- This study provided a method can be used to produce a certain amount of actived AFP protein, which can be used for biochemical assays, functional studies or screening AFP inhibitor for the therapy of HCC.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a biomarker that is used to diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and can promote malignancy in HCC. AFP is an important target in the treatment of liver cancer. To obtain enough AFP to screen for AFP inhibitors, we expressed and purified AFP in HEK-293 cells. In the present study, we produced AFP in the cells and harvested highly pure rAFP (or recombinant expression AFP in HEK-293 cells). We also analysed the bioactivity of rAFP and found that rAFP promoted growth of the human HCC cells, antagonize paclitaxel inhibition of HCC cell proliferation, suppress expression of active caspase-3, and promote expression of Ras and survivin. This study provides a method to produce significant amounts of AFP for use in biochemical assays and functional studies and to screen AFP inhibitors for use in HCC therapy.