Role of sugar chains in the in-vitro activity of recombinant human interleukin 5

The structures of O-linked sugar chains of recombinant human interleukin 5 (rhIL-5) produced by Chinese hamster ovary cells were determined employing high-performance anion-exchange column chromatography under high pH conditions. The core sequence was elucidated to be Gal beta 1-->3-GalNAc by its susceptibility to endo-alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase and sialic acid linkages were determined using sialidases of different specificities. To investigate the role of sugar chains in the in-vitro activity of rhIL-5, it was digested with various glycosidases. While removal of N-linked sugar chains resulted in 2.8-fold increase of the activity, de-O-glycosylated rhIL-5 showed 10-fold higher activity than intact rhIL-5, suggesting that the presence of O-linked sugar chains suppresses the activity more effectively than that of N-linked chains. While incubation of de-N-glycosylated rhIL-5 at 70 degrees C for 30 min decreased the activity, intact and de-O-glycosylated rhIL-5 lost little activity, suggesting that N-linked sugar chains contributed to the thermostability of the molecule.