quantity present in the samples was determined by Lowry-based Bio-Rad assay. The identity and purity grade of the proteins were assessed by 15155536 MALDI-TOF MS and N-terminal amino acid sequencing. The state of folding of the EGF peptides was analyzed by reverse phased high performance liquid chromatography using the methodology described by Chang et al. that allows the identification of minute concentrations of non-native disulfide scrambling isomers. Production of hEGF and EGFt in a 10 liter fermentor OmpA_hEGF or ompA_EGFt MC1061 E.coli positive colonies were added into a 100 ml Luria-Bertani medium supplemented with 50 mg/ml ampicillin. The culture was grown at 37uC in a rotary shaker for a minimum of 5 hours. Then, 5 mL of the culture were inoculated into a flask with 300 mL M9 CAS medium supplemented with 50 mg/ mL ampicillin and grown at 37uC, over night, in a rotary shaker. The entire 300 ml grown culture was inoculated in 5000 ml of the same medium in a 10-L fermentor. The temperature was maintained at 37uC, the partial pressure of O2 at 65% and the pH at 7. The culture was continuously fed from the 2 early hours of the fermentation to the 6 h hours with 50% of casamino acids and glycerol. 12 hours later M9 salts and 0.4 mM of IPTG were added into the cell culture. After that, the culture was continuously fed with M9 salts, oligoelements, and the other 50% of casaminoacids and glycerol, overnight. 24 hours later the culture medium was collected. The fermentation was carried out by the Fermentation Service of the University of Barcelona using a Biostat B 10L laboratory fermenter. Cells and cell culture The human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2 and the 
breast adenocarcinoma cell lines MDA-MB-468 and MCF-7 were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. The cells were maintained in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin-streptomycin at 37uC in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2. Cell growth and morphology were assessed daily using an inverted microscope. The cells were routinely maintained for up to 8 passages by successive trypsinization and seeding and the cell viability was assessed by trypan blue staining. Possible contamination with Mycoplasma was routinely checked using the VenorH GeM Mycoplasma Dection Kit. Immunofluorescence analysis The quantification of EGFR expression was performed by flow cytometry. The cells were analyzed by double immuno-fluorescence using a mouse monoclonal antibody against human EGFR ),. The cells were incubated for 30 min at 4uC with the primary antibody or an irrelevant antibody as negative control. After washing with phosphate-buffered saline , the cells were incubated for an additional 30 min at 4uC in the presence of the Alexa-Fluor 488-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG antibody. Next, the fluorescence was analyzed using a FACSCalibur flow cytometer equipped with CellQuestTM software. Fluorescence intensity was represented on a four orders of magnitude log scale. In 15595852 each experi-ment 10,000 cells were analyzed. Protein purification The culture medium obtained either by flask or by fermentation was centrifuged at 100006g and 4uC for 30 min, twice. The supernatant corresponding to the extracellular medium was then filtered through 0.4 and 0.2 mm membranes, successively, and concentrated by 1702259-66-2 web tangential flow filtration using a 3000-Da membrane. The concentrated sample was then dialysed against 50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5 to subsequent
