Expression of the extracellular domain of OB-cadherin as an Fc fusion protein using bicistronic retroviral expression vector

Osteoblast cadherin (OB-cadherin, also known as cadherin-11) is a Ca2+-dependent homophilic cell adhesion molecule that is expressed mainly in osteoblasts. OB-cadherin is expressed in prostate cancer and may be involved in the homing of metastatic prostate cancer cells to bone. The extracellular domain of OB-cadherin may be used to inhibit the adhesion between prostate cancer cells and osteoblasts. In this report, we describe the expression of the extracellular domain of OB-cadherin as an Fc fusion protein (OB-CAD-Fc) in human embryonic kidney 293FT cells using a bicistronic retroviral vector. Coexpression of GFP and OB-CAD-Fc through the bicistronic vector permitted enrichment of OB-CAD-Fc-expressing cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Recombinant OB-CAD-Fc proteins were secreted into cell medium, and about 0.85 mg of purified OB-CAD-Fc protein was purified from 1 l of the conditioned medium using immobilized protein A-affinity chromatography. The purified OB-CAD-Fc was biologically active because it supported the adhesion of PC3 cells and L cells transduced with OB-cadherin. The availability of OB-CAD-Fc offers opportunities to test whether OB-CAD-Fc can be used to inhibit OB-cadherin-mediated prostate cancer bone metastasis in vivo or to generate antibodies for inhibiting the adhesion between prostate cancer cells and osteoblasts.