ABSTRACT
Trichosanthin (TCS) and a-momorcharin are plant proteins isolated from Trichosanthes kirilowii and Momordica charantia, respectively. In China, TCS has been administered for abortion and the treatment of ectopic pregnancy, hydatidiform mole, invasive mole, and choriocarcinoma. In order to elucidate the structure-function relationship of these two proteins and to improve their pharmacological usage, we cloned and expressed the cDNA of these proteins. To improve expression, we then removed the nonessential 0.4 kb from the encoded propeptide of TCS up to the transcriptional terminal signal of the vector to generate the expression vector pTRC58210. The N-terminal 23-amino acid is a signal peptide as it is hydrophobic and does not exist in the mature a-MMC protein.
