Streptavidin in antibody pretargeting. 4. Site-directed mutation provides evidence that both arginine and lysine residues are involved in kidney localization.

The in vivo application of the protein streptavidin is limited by its propensity to localize to kidney, particularly when it is used as a carrier of radionuclides in Targeted Radionuclide Therapy. Our previous studies demonstrated that modification of recombinant "core" streptavidin (rSAv) by reaction of lysine residues with succinic anhydride and arginine residues with 1,2-cyclohexanedione dramatically decreases the kidney concentrations over that obtained with wild-type rSAv. In this investigation, we explored the role of lysine and arginine residues in kidney localization further by evaluating site-directed mutants of rSAv. In the five mutants studied, the four lysine residues found in each subunit of rSAv were replaced (independently) with an alanine (K80A, K121A, K132A, K134A), and a specific arginine was replaced with a histidine (R59H). The rSAv mutants were prepared from a "core" rSAv construct produced by expression in E. coli that had 124 amino acids (residues 13-136). Another rSAv construct that had 127 amino acids (residues 13-139), used in most of our previous studies, was also included for comparison. As an additional comparison, succinylated rSAv was prepared and evaluated. The rSAv proteins were radioiodinated and injected into athymic mice that were on a biotin-free diet for 5-7 days prior, and biodistribution data were obtained (for most proteins) at 1, 4, 24, and 48 h postinjection. The data obtained show large differences in kidney localizations of the wild-type rSAv and some rSAv mutants. The largest difference in the kidney concentration was noted for the rSAv-K134A mutant (1.90 +/- 0.22%ID/g; 24 h pi) as compared to the wild-type rSAv (31.83 +/-5.26%ID/g) at the same time point. The concentration of rSAv-K134A mutant in kidney was slightly lower than that obtained with succinylated rSAv. At the 24 h time point, the kidney concentrations of the rSAv-R59H mutant (8.95 +/- 2.94%ID/g) and the rSAv-K121A mutant (11.86 +/- 1.61%ID/g) were lower than wild-type rSAv, but the rSAv mutants rSAv-K80A (27.95 +/- 1.82%ID/g) and rSAv-K132A (32.50 +/- 10.09%ID/g) were essentially the same. The data suggests that specific lysine and arginine residues are involved in kidney localization. Possible mechanisms for the observed kidney localization are discussed.