Abstract 429: Structural Stability of Streptococcal Serum Opacity Factor

Abstract

Despite its putative cardioprotective qualities, raising plasma high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels via pharmacologic means has failed to add protection against atherosclerosis, particularly when used as co-therapy with a statin. Two scenarios argue against the raising-plasma-HDL-is-better hypothesis and suggest that enhancing the final RCT step, hepatic cholesterol disposal, is a better cardioprotective strategy. First, probucol prevents CVD events and increases survival in humans and reduces CVD in SR-BI/apo E DKO mice. Despite its anti atherogenic properties, probucol lowers plasma HDL-C levels. Second, SR-BI over expressing vs. WT mice have lower plasma HDL-C but less atherosclerosis whereas the converse is true in SR-BI KO mice, suggesting that increasing HDL-C disposal is a rational cardioprotective strategy. One possible agent for therapeutic development is streptococcal serum opacity factor (SOF), a 100 kDa protein that clouds human serum via a novel HDL-targeting mechanism. SOF diverts HDL-CE to the LDL receptor and to bile acid secretion in vitro and in vivo, increases plasma HDL-C clearance in mice in an apo E-, LDLR-dependent mechanism thereby increasing hepatic CE uptake and reducing plasma cholesterol levels. SOF is active at 10 -14 M. Given its novel mechanism and potent reduction of plasma cholesterol levels in mice, we studied the structure and stability of SOF using its activity as a marker of its integrity versus several physicochemical challenges—extremes of pH, the denaturant, guanidinium chloride, heat, and ionic strength. SOF was highly resistant to all of these challenges. SOF has only one cysteine so it cannot be stabilized by internal disulfide bonds. Thus, SOF is an unusually stable protein that undergoes reversible unfolding-folding when challenged with a variety of physicochemical perturbants. These studies have helped us identify optimal conditions for crystallizing SOF for X-ray structure analysis.