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Background <p>Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is widely used in regenerative medicine and therapeutic research. However, the purification of recombinant VEGF largely relies on affinity chromatography, which requires expensive chromatographic columns, specialized equipment, and multistep processing. These column-based workflows increase operational complexity and cost, particularly for large-scale production. Therefore, the development of an alternative purification strategy to conventional chromatography-based purification for VEGF is needed.</p> Findings <p>In this study, we developed a chromatography-free VEGF purification strategy using an anti-VEGF-scFv–calsequestrin (CSQ) fusion protein that enables calcium-dependent affinity precipitation. The fusion protein retained strong binding affinity for VEGF (<i>K</i><sub>d</sub> = 1.1&#xa0;nM) while exhibiting rapid and reversible Ca<sup>2</sup>⁺-dependent polymerization. Upon CaCl₂ addition, the anti-VEGF-scFv-CSQ–VEGF complex rapidly formed aggregates, enabling efficient separation of VEGF from impurities. Using this strategy, VEGF was purified within 30&#xa0;min with a purity of 94% and a yield of 93%. SEC-HPLC analysis confirmed a purity of 94.3%, and host cell protein contamination was reduced from 1.44 × 10<sup>4</sup>&#xa0;ppm to 774&#xa0;ppm. The fusion protein also maintained stable purification performance over five repeated cycles, with VEGF recovery consistently maintained above 85%.</p> Conclusions <p>These findings demonstrate that the scFv-CSQ fusion protein enables rapid separation of VEGF through calcium-dependent polymerization. This column-free mechanism reduces operational cost and technical complexity, highlighting its potential as an alternative to conventional chromatography-based purification.</p> Graphical abstract

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A simple, rapid, resin-free platform for purification of vascular endothelial growth factor using a calcium-responsive fusion protein

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月4日

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  • Jonghwan Lee,
  • Heesun Park,
  • KyuHyuk Im,
  • Sanguine Byun,
  • Sunghyun Kim

摘要

Background

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is widely used in regenerative medicine and therapeutic research. However, the purification of recombinant VEGF largely relies on affinity chromatography, which requires expensive chromatographic columns, specialized equipment, and multistep processing. These column-based workflows increase operational complexity and cost, particularly for large-scale production. Therefore, the development of an alternative purification strategy to conventional chromatography-based purification for VEGF is needed.

Findings

In this study, we developed a chromatography-free VEGF purification strategy using an anti-VEGF-scFv–calsequestrin (CSQ) fusion protein that enables calcium-dependent affinity precipitation. The fusion protein retained strong binding affinity for VEGF (Kd = 1.1 nM) while exhibiting rapid and reversible Ca2⁺-dependent polymerization. Upon CaCl₂ addition, the anti-VEGF-scFv-CSQ–VEGF complex rapidly formed aggregates, enabling efficient separation of VEGF from impurities. Using this strategy, VEGF was purified within 30 min with a purity of 94% and a yield of 93%. SEC-HPLC analysis confirmed a purity of 94.3%, and host cell protein contamination was reduced from 1.44 × 104 ppm to 774 ppm. The fusion protein also maintained stable purification performance over five repeated cycles, with VEGF recovery consistently maintained above 85%.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrate that the scFv-CSQ fusion protein enables rapid separation of VEGF through calcium-dependent polymerization. This column-free mechanism reduces operational cost and technical complexity, highlighting its potential as an alternative to conventional chromatography-based purification.

Graphical abstract