Thermal resilience of ensilicated lysozyme via calorimetric and in vivo analysis

Aswin Doekhie, Matt Slade, Lucy Cliff, Lucy Weaver, Rémi Castaing, Joshua Paulin, Yun-Chu Chen, Karen Edler, Francoise Koumanov, Kevin Marchbank, Jean Van Den Elsen, Asel Sartbaeva

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Ensilication is a novel method of protein thermal stabilisation using silica. It uses a modified sol-gel process which tailor fits a protective silica shell around the solvent accessible protein surface. This, electrostatically attached, shell has been found to protect the protein against thermal influences and retains its native structure and function after release. Here, we report the calorimetric analysis of an ensilicated model protein, hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) under several ensilication conditions. DSC, TGA-DTA-MS, CD, were used to determine unfolding temperatures of native, released and ensilicated lysozyme to verify the thermal resilience of the ensilicated material. Our findings indicate that ensilication protects against thermal fluctuations even at low concentrations of silica used for ensilication. Secondly, the thermal stabilisation is comparable to lyophilisation, and in some cases is even greater than lyophilisation. Additionally, we performed a mouse in vivo study using lysozyme to demonstrate the antigenic retention over long-term storage. The results suggest that protein is confined within the ensilicated material, and thus is unable to unfold and denature but is still functional after long-term storage.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)29789-29796
Number of pages8
JournalRSC Advances
Volume10
Issue number50
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Aug 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering

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