Interaction Of Human Serum Albumin Research Articles

Biophysical study on the interaction of etomidate and the carrier protein in vitro

Etomidate is a unique drug used for induction of general anesthesia and sedation, and is usually used through intravenous injection clinically. Before targeting to the receptor, etomidate binds proteins in blood when it comes into veins. Thus to study the interaction of etomidate and serum albumin would be of great toxicological and pharmacological importance. In this study, the interaction between etomidate and human serum albumin (HSA) was studied using fluorescence spectroscopy, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, site maker displacement and molecular modeling methods. Investigations of the binding constant (K = 3.55 × 105 M−1, 295 K), the number of binding sites (n = 1.16), thermodynamic parameters (ΔG = 3.13 × 104 J·mol−1, ΔS = 364 J·mol−1·K−1 and ΔH = −6.85 × 105 J·mol−1) for the reaction and changes to the binding sites and conformation in HSA in response to etomidate were presented. Results show that etomidate can bind HSA tightly through electrostatic forces, and the protein skeleton conformation and secondary structure changes thereby. This is the first spectroscopic report for etomidate–HSA interactions which illustrates the complex nature of this subject.

Resonance energy transfer, pH-induced folded states and the molecular interaction of human serum albumin and icariin.

Icariin is a flavonol glycoside with a wide range of pharmacological and biological activities. The pharmacological and biological functions of flavonoid compounds mainly originate from their binding to proteins. The mode of interaction of icariin with human serum albumin (HSA) has been characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy and far- and near-UV circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy under different pH conditions. Fluorescence quenching studies showed that the binding affinity of icariin with HSA in the buffer solution at different pH values is: Ka (pH 4.5) > Ka (pH 3.5) > Ka (pH 9.0) > Ka (pH 7.0). Red-edge excitation shift (REES) studies revealed that pH had an obvious effect on the mobility of the tryptophan microenvironment and the addition of icariin made the REES effect more distinct. The static quenching mechanism and number of binding sites (n ≈ 1) were obtained from fluorescence data at three temperatures (298, 304 and 310 K). Both ∆H(0) < 0 and ∆Ѕ(0) < 0 suggested that hydrogen bonding and van der Waal's interaction were major driving forces in the binding mechanism, and this was also confirmed by the molecular simulation results. The distance r between the donor (HSA) and the acceptor (icariin) was calculated based on Förster non-radiation energy transfer theory. We found that pH had little impact on the energy transfer between HSA and icariin. Far- and near-UV CD spectroscopy studies further indicated the influence of pH on the complexation process and the alteration in the protein conformation upon binding.

Kinetics and thermodynamics of human serum albumin adsorption on silicon doped diamond like carbon

To gain a better understanding of protein adsorption onto biomaterial surfaces is required for the control of biocompatibility and bioactivity. Various samples of diamond like carbon (DLC) and silicon-doped DLC were synthesised using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The effects of surface morphology on the interaction of human serum albumin (HSA) with doped and undoped DLC films was investigated using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and other surface analysis techniques. The results highlighted an increase in both contact angle and hydrophobicity with increasing silicon dopant levels. A reduction on the contact angle values.After adsorption of HSA, the films showed a reduction in the contact angle with a significant change in the cosΔ and this gap increased with increasing surface coverage of HSA. The adsorption kinetics of HSA were also investigated and revealed that the maximum adsorption occurred at pH 5.0 and the process involved chemisorption. The experimental isotherm data were analysed using the Langmuir and Freundlich‎ models. The amount of HSA adsorbed increased with contact time and reached saturation ‎after 30 min. The adsorption ‎process was found to be pseudo first order with respect to the bulk concentration and was dependent on both the concentration of protein and surface characteristics of the samples. The amount of adsorbed HSA was higher with higher levels of silicon doping of the DLC. Therefore, doping DLC may provide an approach to controlling the protein adsorption.

Interaction of human serum albumin with silver nanoparticles functionalized with polyvinylthiol

The interaction of novel polyvinylthiol coated silver nanoparticles (Ag-PVT) with human serum albumin (HSA) has been investigated by fluorescence (intrinsic, extrinsic and synchronous), UV–visible, and circular dichroism spectroscopies. Analysis of the fluorescence quenching data of HSA by Ag-PVT nanoparticles using Stern–Volmer method revealed the formation of 1:1 ground state complex. Evaluation of binding parameters and binding energy indicated that the binding reaction was exothermic. On the basis of fluorescence measurements it was concluded that hydrophobic forces play crucial role in stabilizing the complex. The binding distance was calculated by using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) theory. The conformational changes of HSA were obtained qualitatively as well as quantitatively using synchronous fluorescence and CD, respectively. The HSA underwent partial unfolding in presence of Ag-PVT nanoparticles.

Hydrophobicity is the governing factor in the interaction of human serum albumin with bile salts.

The present study demonstrates a detailed characterization of the interaction of a series of bile salts, sodium deoxycholate (NaDC), sodium cholate (NaC), and sodium taurocholate (NaTC), with a model transport protein, human serum albumin (HSA). Here, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic techniques have been used to characterize the interaction of the bile salts with HSA. The binding isotherms constructed from steady-state fluorescence intensity measurements demonstrate that the interaction of the bile salts with HSA can be characterized by three distinct regions, which were also successfully reproduced from the significant variation of the emission wavelength (λ(em)) of the intrinsic tryptophan (Trp) moiety of HSA. The time-resolved fluorescence decay behavior of the Trp residue of HSA was also found to corroborate the steady-state results. The effect of interaction with the bile salts on the native conformation of the protein has been explored in a circular dichroism (CD) study, which reveals a decrease in α-helicity of HSA induced by the bile salts. In accordance with this, the esterase activity of the protein-bile salt aggregates is found to be reduced in comparison to that of the native protein. Our results exclusively highlight the fact that it is the hydrophobic character of the bile salt that governs the extent of interaction with the protein. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and molecular docking studies further substantiate our other experimental findings.

Probing the interaction of cefodizime with human serum albumin using multi-spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques

To know the interaction of cefodizime (CEF) with human serum albumin (HSA), techniques of different spectroscopies and molecular modeling were used. The inner filter effects were eliminated to get accurate binding parameters. Steady state fluorescence suggested a static type for CEF–HSA interaction, and the complex formation had a high affinity of 105Lmol−1. On the basis of the thermodynamic results and site marker competitive experiments, it was considered that CEF was bound to site I (subdomain IIA) of HSA mainly by hydrogen bonds and van der Waals force. The calculated binding distance (r) indicated that the non-radioactive energy transfer came into being in the interaction between CEF and HSA. Furthermore, molecular modeling was applied to further define that CEF interacted with the Trp214, Lys199, Phe211, Leu238 residues of HSA. In addition, three-dimensional fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD) results showed that the binding of CEF can cause conformational and some microenvironmental changes of HSA. This paper provides reasonable models helping us further understand the transportation and distribution of CEF when it spreads into human blood serum which is of great importance in pharmacology and pharmacodynamics.

Interaction of human serum albumin with short polyelectrolytes: a study by calorimetry and computer simulations.

We present a comprehensive study of the interaction of human serum albumin (HSA) with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA; number average degree of polymerization: 25) in aqueous solution. The interaction of HSA with PAA is studied in dilute solution as a function of the concentration of added salt (20-100 mM) and temperature (25-37 °C). Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is used to analyze the interaction and to determine the binding constant and related thermodynamic data. It is found that only one PAA chain is bound per HSA molecule. The free energy of binding ΔGb increases with temperature significantly. ΔGb decreases with increasing salt concentration and is dominated by entropic contributions due to the release of bound counterions. Coarse-grained Langevin computer simulations treating the counterions in an explicit manner are used to study the process of binding in detail. These simulations demonstrate that the PAA chains are bound in the Sudlow II site of HSA. Moreover, ΔGb is calculated from the simulations and found to be in very good agreement with the measured data. The simulations demonstrate clearly that the driving force of binding is the release of counterions in full agreement with the ITC-data.

Quantitative investigation of the dynamic interaction of human serum albumin with procaine using a multi-way calibration method coupled with three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy

Based on a multi-way calibration method, free human serum albumin in a dynamic interaction system with procaine is quantified. Their interaction mechanism and the effect of temperature on interaction are also studied.

Molecular Analysis of AFP and HSA Interactions with PTEN Protein

Human cytoplasmic alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has been classified as a member of the albuminoid gene family. The protein sequence of AFP has significant homology to that of human serum albumin (HSA), but its biological characteristics are vastly different from HSA. The AFP functions as a regulator in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) pathway, but HSA plays a key role as a transport protein. To probe their molecular mechanisms, we have applied colocalization, coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP), and molecular docking approaches to analyze the differences between AFP and HSA. The data from colocalization and co-IP displayed a strong interaction between AFP and PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog), demonstrating that AFP did bind to PTEN, but HSA did not. The molecular docking study further showed that the AFP domains I and III could contact with PTEN. In silicon substitutions of AFP binding site residues at position 490M/K and 105L/R corresponding to residues K490 and R105 in HSA resulted in steric clashes with PTEN residues R150 and K46, respectively. These steric clashes may explain the reason why HSA cannot bind to PTEN. Ultimately, the experimental results and the molecular modeling data from the interactions of AFP and HSA with PTEN will help us to identify targets for designing drugs and vaccines against human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Interaction of different prototropic species of an anticancer drug ellipticine with HSA and IgG proteins: multispectroscopic and molecular modeling studies.

Studies on interactions between an anticancer alkaloid, ellipticine, and various carrier proteins in blood serum show tangible results to gain insight into the solubility and transport of the drug under physiological conditions. In this report, we extensively studied the interactions of different prototropic species of ellipticine with two prominent serum proteins namely human serum albumin (HSA) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) in their native and partially unfolded states using steady state and time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, molecular docking and circular dichroism (CD). Both the fluorescence techniques and molecular modeling studies elucidate that only neutral species of ellipticine binds to HSA in the sudlow site II. Unlike HSA, IgG in the native state mostly binds to cationic species of ellipticine. However, in partially unfolded configuration, IgG binds to the neutral ellipticine molecules. Molecular docking studies indicate the prevalence of electrostatic interactions involving charged residues in the binding process of cationic species of ellipticine with native IgG in its Fab region. In native conformation, the hydrophobic residues of the Fab region are found to be buried completely by the ligand. This implies that the hydrophobic interaction will be favored by unfolding of IgG through which the hydrophobic pocket will be more accessible to neutral species of ellipticine. The circular dichroism measurements reveal that upon interaction with ellipticine, heat and acid treated HSA resumes its α-helical content. This conclusive comparative study on interactions of IgG and HSA with ellipticine yields the result that native HSA is responsible for transport of neutral species of ellipticine whereas IgG carries cationic ellipticine in its native form.

Investigation of the Effects of Various Cyclodextrins on the Stabilisation of Human Serum Albumin by a Spectroscopic Method

The binding parameters between cyclodextrins (CDs) and human serum albumin (HSA) were investigated by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), fluorescence quenching, and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy at 300 K in 50 mM phosphate buffer solution. Among the various CDs investigated, β-CD has the greater ability to decrease the aggregation of HSA and the results indicated that the inhibition order is γ-CD &lt; α-CD &lt; β-CD. The obtained heats for HSA+CDs interactions were reported and analysed in terms of the extended solvation model, which was used to reproduce the enthalpies of HSA interactions with CDs over a broad range of complex concentrations. The binding constant and thermodynamic parameters were obtained. These suggested that the binding reaction was driven by both enthalpy and entropy, and electrostatic interactions played a major role in the stabilising of HSA. The parameters and reflected the net effect of β-CD on the HSA stability at low and high cyclodextrin concentrations, respectively. The positive values for indicated that β-CD stabilises the HSA structure at low concentrations. The UV absorption intensity of theses complexes increased and a slight red shift was observed in the absorbance wavelength with increasing the CD concentration. The fluorescence intensity of HSA decreased regularly and a slight blue shift was observed for the emission wavelength with increasing CD concentration. The results indicate that the CD complex could quench the fluorescence of HSA and changes the microenvironment of the tryptophan residue.

Spectroscopic study of drug-binding characteristics of unmodified and pNPA-based acetylated human serum albumin: Does esterase activity affect microenvironment of drug binding sites on the protein?

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the most prominent extracellular protein in blood plasma. There are several binding sites on the protein which provide accommodation for structurally-unrelated endogenous and exogenous ligands and a wide variety of drugs. “Esterase-like” activity (hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters) by the protein has been also reported. In the current study, we set out to investigate the interaction of indomethacin and ibuprofen with the unmodified and modified HSA (pNPA-modified HSA) using various spectroscopic techniques. Fluorescence data showed that 1:1 binding of drug to HSA is associated with quenching of the protein intrinsic fluorescence. Decrease of protein surface hydrophobicity (PSH), alteration in drug binding affinity and change of the protein stability, after esterase-like activity and permanent acetylation of HSA, were also documented. Analysis of the quenching and thermodynamic parameters indicated that forces involved in drug–HSA interactions change upon the protein modification.

Probing the interaction of human serum albumin with DPPH in the absence and presence of the eight antioxidants

Albumin represents a very abundant and important circulating antioxidant in plasma. DPPH radical is also called 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl. It has been widely used for measuring the efficiency of antioxidants. In this paper, the ability of human serum albumin (HSA) to scavenge DPPH radical was investigated using UV–vis absorption spectra. The interaction between HSA and DPPH was investigated in the absence and presence of eight popular antioxidants using fluorescence spectroscopy. These results indicate the antioxidant activity of HSA against DPPH radical is similar to glutathione and the value of IC50 is 5.200×10−5molL−1. In addition, the fluorescence experiments indicate the quenching mechanism of HSA, by DPPH, is a static process. The quenching process of DPPH with HSA is easily affected by the eight antioxidants, however, they cannot change the quenching mechanism of DPPH with HSA. The binding of DPPH to HSA primarily takes place in subdomain IIA and exists two classes of binding sites with two different interaction behaviors. The decreased binding constants and the number of binding sites of DPPH with HSA by the introduction of the eight antioxidants may result from the competition of the eight antioxidants and DPPH binding to HSA. The binding of DPPH to HSA may induce the micro-environment of the lone Trp-214 from polar to slightly nonpolar.

A Device for Albumin and Cytosol Detoxication

A new detoxication method based the Bioartificial Liver apparatus and the use of human serum albumin (HSA) and porcine hepatocyte cytosol (PHC) is described. The method is based on the interaction of HSA and PHC with the patient’s blood through a semi-permeable membrane. The apparatus consists of a bioreactor, hemodialyzer, and blood line as well as thermoregulation, oxygenation, and procedure safety systems. The PHC and HSA dialyzing media were tested using the Bioartificial Liver apparatus. They appeared to be highly effective and capable of reducing biochemical markers of cytolysis, cholestasis, and endogenous intoxication in patients without any adverse side effects. Thus, the method can be recommended for further clinical tests and introduction into intensive care practice.

Characterisation of interaction between food colourant allura red AC and human serum albumin: Multispectroscopic analyses and docking simulations

Binding interaction of human serum albumin (HSA) with allura red AC, a food colourant, was investigated at the molecular level through fluorescence, ultraviolet–visible, circular dichroism (CD) and Raman spectroscopies, as well as protein–ligand docking studies to better understand the chemical absorption, distribution and transportation of colourants. Results show that allura red AC has the ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA through static quenching. The negative values of the thermodynamic parameters ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS indicated that hydrogen bond and van der Waals forces are dominant in the binding between the food colourant and HSA. The CD and Raman spectra showed that the binding of allura red AC to HSA induces the rearrangement of the carbonyl hydrogen-bonding network of polypeptides, which changes the HSA secondary structure. This colourant is bound to HSA in site I, and the binding mode was further analysed with the use of the CDOCKER algorithm in Discovery Studio.

Study of interaction of human serum albumin with curcumin by NMR and docking.

Curcumin has been reported to be therapeutically active but has poor bioavailability, half life, and high rate of metabolic detoxifcation. Most of the hydrophobic and acidic drugs get transported through human serum albumin (HSA). Binding of drugs to serum protein increases their half-life. The present study is focused to analyze interaction of curcumin with HSA by NMR and docking studies. In order to investigate the binding affinity of curcumin with HSA, NMR based diffusion techniques and docking study have been carried out. We report that curcumin has shown comparable binding affinity value vis-a-vis standard, the accessible surface area (ASA) of human serum albumin (uncomplexed) and its docked complex with curcumin at both binding sites was calculated and found to be close to that of warfarin and diazepam respectively. Conclusion drawn from our study demonstrates that curcumin interacts with HSA strongly thereby its poor half life is due to high rate of its metabolic detoxification as reported in literature.

Comparative serum albumin interactions and antitumor effects of Au(III) and Ga(III) ions

In the present study, interactions of Au(III) and Ga(III) ions on human serum albumin (HSA) were studied comparatively via spectroscopic and thermal analysis methods: UV–vis absorbance spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). The potential antitumor effects of these ions were studied on MCF-7 cells via Alamar blue assay. It was found that both Au(III) and Ga(III) ions can interact with HSA, however; Au(III) ions interact with HSA more favorably and with a higher affinity. FT-IR second derivative analysis results demonstrated that, high concentrations of both metal ions led to a considerable decrease in the α-helix content of HSA; while Au(III) led to around 5% of decrease in the α-helix content at 200μM, it was around 1% for Ga(III) at the same concentration. Calorimetric analysis gave the binding kinetics of metal–HSA interactions; while the binding affinity (Ka) of Au(III)–HSA binding was around 3.87×105M−1, it was around 9.68×103M−1 for Ga(III)–HSA binding. Spectroscopy studies overall suggest that both metal ions have significant effects on the chemical structure of HSA, including the secondary structure alterations. Antitumor activity studies on MCF7 tumor cell line with both metal ions revealed that, Au(III) ions have a higher antiproliferative activity compared to Ga(III) ions.

Multispectroscopic and molecular modeling approach to investigate the interaction of diclofop-methyl enantiomers with human serum albumin

Pesticides and related environmental contaminants have always been threated to human health due to their intrinsic toxicity. In the context of this contribution, the interaction between diclofop-methyl (DM) enantiomers and human serum albumin (HSA) has been characterized by steady state and three-dimensional fluorescence, molecular modeling, circular dichroism (CD) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy. The binding constants significantly showed the binding was enantioselective and HSA had higher affinity for S-DM. The thermodynamic parameters of the binding reaction (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) clearly signified that hydrophobic effects and H-bonds contribute to the formation of DM-HSA complex. The alterations of protein secondary structure in the presence of DM enantiomers were confirmed by CD spectroscopy, UV–vis and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition, both fluorescence probe study and molecular modeling simulation evidenced the binding of DM enantiomers to HSA primarily took place in subdomain IIIA (Sudlow׳s site II). This investigation highlights the binding mechanism, specific binding sites and binding region of DM enantiomers on human serum albumin at the first time. Besides, such task can provide important insight to the interaction of the physiological protein HSA with chiral aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides and give support to the human health risk assessment.

Temperature induced morphological transitions from native to unfolded aggregated States of human serum albumin.

The circulatory protein, human serum albumin (HSA), is known to have two melting point temperatures, 56 and 62 °C. In this present manuscript, we investigate the interaction of HSA with a synthesized bioactive molecule 3-pyrazolyl 2-pyrazoline (PZ). The sole tryptophan amino acid residue (Trp214) of HSA and PZ forms an excellent FRET pair and has been used to monitor the conformational dynamics in HSA as a function of temperature. Molecular docking studies reveal that the PZ binds to a site which is in the immediate vicinity of Trp214, and such data are also supported by time-resolved FRET studies. Steady-state and time-resolved anisotropy of PZ conclusively proved that the structural and morphological changes in HSA mainly occur beyond its first melting temperature. Although the protein undergoes thermal denaturation at elevated temperatures, the Trp214 gets buried inside the protein scaffolds; this fact has been substantiated by acrylamide quenching studies. Finally, we have used atomic force microscopy to establish that at around 70 °C, HSA undergoes self-assembly to form fibrillar structures. Such an observation may be attributed to the loss of α-helical content of the protein and a subsequent rise in β-sheet structure.

Investigation of neohesperidin dihydrochalcone binding to human serum albumin by spectroscopic methods

In this study, the interaction of human serum albumin (HSA) with neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHD) was investigated by UV, fluorescence, synchronous fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopic methods. Experimental results confirmed the complex formation between HSA and NHD molecules under physiological conditions. NHD quenched the intrinsic fluorescence spectrum of HSA by static quenching mechanism. The binding constant of this system was calculated as 2.79×104M−1 at 298.15K. The stability of HSA–NHD complex illustrated a decrease with increasing temperature. The number of binding sites was found to be 1. Thermodynamic parameter values were calculated by using van’t Hoff equation. According to sign and magnitude of thermodynamic parameters (ΔH=−29.22kJmol−1 and ΔS=−12.91Jmol−1K−1), hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces were found as the effective interaction forces between HSA and NHD molecules. Synchronous fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopic methods proved the alteration of secondary structure of HSA in the presence of NHD. Site marker competitive experiments indicated that the binding of NHD to HSA took place in subdomain IIA region of protein.