Subcloning, expression, purification, and characterization of recombinant human leptin-binding domain

A subdomain of the human leptin receptor encoding part of the extracellular domain (amino acids 428 to 635) was subcloned, expressed in a prokaryotic host, and purified to homogeneity, as evidenced by SDS-PAGE, with over 95% monomeric protein. The purified leptin-binding domain (LBD) exhibited the predicted β structure, was capable of binding human, ovine, and chicken leptins, and formed a stable 1:1 complex with all mammalian leptins. The binding kinetics, assayed by surface plasmon resonance methodology, showed respective k_on and k_off values (mean ± S.E.) of 1.20 ± 0.23 × 10^-5 mol^-1 s^-1 and 1.85 ± 0.30 × 10^-3 s^-1 and a K_d value of 1.54 × 10^-8 M. Similar results were achieved with conventional binding experiments. LBD blocked leptin-induced, but not interleukin-3-induced, proliferation of BAF/3 cells stably transfected with the long form of human leptin receptor. The modeled LBD structure and the known three-dimensional structure of human leptin were used to construct a model of 1:1 LBD·human leptin complex. Two main residues, Phe-500, located in loop L3, and Tyr-441, located in L1, are suggested to contribute to leptin binding.