Chromatographic refolding of proteins: molecular action and column control

Protein expression in E. coli often results in the formation of a kind of protein aggregate called inclusion body. Conversion of the inactive protein aggregate into biologically active protein is a key step in production of recombinant products. Conventional dilution refolding technique suffers from disadvantages of low recovery and low concentration. Various chromatographic refolding techniques have been developed over the last few years. These include size-exclusion chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and different affinity chromatography. A successful strategy is the use of gradient elution in column control which provides a gentle and gradual change of the solution environment for the macromolecule to refold at nano-scale. The gradient refolding at column scale could minimize misfolding and aggregation which are induced by sudden change of the solution in conventional refolding operation.