Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: BLAST: A blue light-assisted secretion toolkit tunable by reversible protein-protein interactions

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.30.715452

Figure Lengend Snippet: Secretion of therapeutic proteins with a-BLAST and d-BLAST. (a) The human preproinsulin (preproINS) construct contains a signal peptide, B-chain (yellow), C-peptide (dark gray), and A-chain (yellow), with engineered Furin cleavage sites flanking the C-peptide for maturation. To facilitate efficient processing within the Golgi apparatus, Furin protease was co-transfected with the BLAST modules. (b) Kinetic profiling of light-induced insulin secretion. Summary graphs of secreted C-peptide levels, quantified by ELISA, as a proxy for insulin secretion from a-BLAST (left) and d-BLAST (right). Both systems exhibited significant, time-dependent insulin release starting from 2 h of illumination (8.2-fold for a-BLAST, 8.4-fold for d-BLAST), reaching maximal induction at 24 h (13.8-fold for a-BLAST, 19.3-fold for d-BLAST). (c) Plasmid configurations for IL-12 secretion. Schematic of the heterodimeric cytokine IL-12-a-BLAST (left) and d-BLAST-IL-12 (right) constructs. (d) Kinetic profiling of light-induced IL-12 secretion. Summary graphs showing IL-12 secretion levels measured by ELISA. Significant secretion was observed starting at 3 h for a-BLAST (2.5-fold) and 2 h for d-BLAST (2.2-fold). At the 24 h time point, d-BLAST (4.7-fold) demonstrated a slightly higher dynamic range compared to a-BLAST (4.5-fold). Open circles represent individual measurements from three biologically independent samples. Data are presented as means ± S.D. Statistical significance was assessed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (ns = not significant, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001).

Article Snippet: Secreted human C-peptide levels in the supernatant were quantified using a Human C-peptide ELISA Kit (R&D Systems; Catalog #DICP00).

Techniques: Construct, Transfection, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Plasmid Preparation

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: BLAST: A blue light-assisted secretion toolkit tunable by reversible protein-protein interactions

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.30.715452

Figure Lengend Snippet: Secretion of therapeutic proteins with a-BLAST and d-BLAST. (a) The human preproinsulin (preproINS) construct contains a signal peptide, B-chain (yellow), C-peptide (dark gray), and A-chain (yellow), with engineered Furin cleavage sites flanking the C-peptide for maturation. To facilitate efficient processing within the Golgi apparatus, Furin protease was co-transfected with the BLAST modules. (b) Kinetic profiling of light-induced insulin secretion. Summary graphs of secreted C-peptide levels, quantified by ELISA, as a proxy for insulin secretion from a-BLAST (left) and d-BLAST (right). Both systems exhibited significant, time-dependent insulin release starting from 2 h of illumination (8.2-fold for a-BLAST, 8.4-fold for d-BLAST), reaching maximal induction at 24 h (13.8-fold for a-BLAST, 19.3-fold for d-BLAST). (c) Plasmid configurations for IL-12 secretion. Schematic of the heterodimeric cytokine IL-12-a-BLAST (left) and d-BLAST-IL-12 (right) constructs. (d) Kinetic profiling of light-induced IL-12 secretion. Summary graphs showing IL-12 secretion levels measured by ELISA. Significant secretion was observed starting at 3 h for a-BLAST (2.5-fold) and 2 h for d-BLAST (2.2-fold). At the 24 h time point, d-BLAST (4.7-fold) demonstrated a slightly higher dynamic range compared to a-BLAST (4.5-fold). Open circles represent individual measurements from three biologically independent samples. Data are presented as means ± S.D. Statistical significance was assessed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (ns = not significant, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001).

Article Snippet: Secreted human C-peptide levels in the supernatant were quantified using a Human C-peptide ELISA Kit (R&D Systems; Catalog #DICP00).

Techniques: Construct, Transfection, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Plasmid Preparation

Journal: Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research : CR

Article Title: RGX-019-MMAE inhibits leukemia progression by targeting MER proto-oncogene tyrosine kinase (MERTK) in acute myeloid leukemia

doi: 10.1186/s13046-026-03657-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: The antibody-drug conjugate RGX-019-MMAE induced cytotoxic activity in MERTK-expressing AML cell lines. A MERTK expression in the indicated AML cell lines; leukemic cells (1 × 10 6 ) were stained with anti-MERTK-APC antibody, and the expression was measured by flow cytometry. Data are plotted as mean values with error bars representing standard error. B - F Bar graph showing the percentage of relative luminescence in Kasumi 1 ( B ), OCI-AML3 ( C ), MOLM-13 ( D ), MOLM-14 ( E ), and MV4-11 ( F ) cells treated with the indicated concentrations of RGX-019-MMAE and monoclonal antibody RGX-019. Data are plotted as mean values with error bars representing standard error (Student unpaired t -test). * p ≤0.05, ** p ≤0.01, *** p ≤0.001, **** p ≤0.0001. UT = untreated

Article Snippet: Mouse IgG1/kappa light chain MERTK-specific monoclonal antibodies were generated in mice by immunization with Fc-tagged human MERTK peptide (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) USA).

Techniques: Activity Assay, Expressing, Staining, Flow Cytometry

Journal: Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research : CR

Article Title: RGX-019-MMAE inhibits leukemia progression by targeting MER proto-oncogene tyrosine kinase (MERTK) in acute myeloid leukemia

doi: 10.1186/s13046-026-03657-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: The antibody-drug conjugate RGX-019-MMAE induced cytotoxic activity in MERTK-expressing AML primary cells. A - D Bar graphs show the percentage of relative luminescence in primary AML cells, RGX946 ( A ), RGX694 ( B ), RGX702 ( C ), and RGX470 ( D ) treated with the indicated concentrations of RGX-019-MMAE or the monoclonal antibody RGX-019. Data are plotted as mean values with error bars representing standard error (Student unpaired t -test). E Representative figures of colony-forming units for normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to DMSO and indicated concentrations of RGX-019-MMAE and RGX-019. Data are plotted as mean values with error bars representing standard error (Student unpaired t -test) * p ≤0.05, ** p ≤0.01, *** p ≤0.001, **** p ≤0.0001

Article Snippet: Mouse IgG1/kappa light chain MERTK-specific monoclonal antibodies were generated in mice by immunization with Fc-tagged human MERTK peptide (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) USA).

Techniques: Activity Assay, Expressing