Expression, purification, and kinetic characterization of the human strep-IDO1

BACKGROUND: Tryptophan catabolism leading to T cell suppression mediated by indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) is an important mechanism of tumor immune escape, and IDO1 inhibitors have attracted increasing attention as anticancer therapeutics. However, the phase III clinical trial (ECHO-301/KEYNOTE-252) of epacadostat (INCB024360) had disappointing outcomes. This revealed that purification of IDO1 with high purity is one of the major constraints that limit the development of its inhibitors. METHODS: Pan-cancer analysis was used to elucidate the relationship between IDO1 function in tumor immunology. The recombinant pET28a-IDO1-strep plasmid and E. coli Rosetta (DE3) strain were used to express and strep-tactin beads to purify the strep-IDO1 protein. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to detect enzymatic activity of IDO1. Ten female C57BL/6 mice was used to prepared polyclonal antibody. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blot, and immunofluorescence were used to measure polyclonal antibody. RESULTS: We described an improved method for the purification of recombinant IDO1 protein based on the strep-tag using an E. coli expression system. We obtained large amount of IDO1 with enhanced purity by employing one-step purification through strep-tactin beads. The polyclonal antibody acquired immunized mice could specifically recognize both recombinant and endogenous IDO1. CONCLUSIONS: Purified human strep-IDO1 using the protocol described in our study could be used for further biochemical and structural analyses, which may facilitate functional research and further drug screening study on IDO1.