Effect of oxidative stress on the structure and function of human serum albumin

Human serum albumin (HSA) was mildly oxidized by a metal-catalyzed oxidation system (MCO-HSA), chloramine-T (CT-HSA) or H2O2 (H2O2-HSA), and the effects of these treatments on the structural, drug-binding and esterase-like properties were studied.

Protein conformation was examined by calorimetric, chromatographic, electrophoretic and spectroscopic techniques. Drug binding was studied by ultrafiltration method, and esterase-like activity was determined using p-nitrophenyl acetate as a substrate.

Far-UV and near-UV CD spectra indicated that significant structural changes had occured as the result of treatment with MCO-HSA and CT-HSA but not with H2O2-HSA. However, SDS-PAGE analysis does not provide precise information on gross conformational changes such as fragmentation, cross-linking and SDS-resistant polymerisation. The results of differential scanning calorimetry, the fluorescence of the hydrophobic probe 1,1-bis-4-anilino-naphthalene-5,5-sulfonic acid and the elution time from a hydrophobic HPLC column indicated that MCO-HSA and CT-HSA in particular, have a more open structure and a higher degree of exposure of hydrophobic areas than unoxidized HSA. In all cases, high-affinity binding of warfarin remained unchanged for all the oxidized HSAs. However, high-affinity binding of ketoprofen to CT-HSA and, especially, MCO-HSA was diminished. In addition, the esterase-like activity of these proteins were all decreased to the same low level.

Mild oxidation of HSA has no detectable effect on the binding of drugs to site I in subdomain IIA. In contrast, both the ligand binding property of site II and the esterase-like activity of oxidized HSAs are decreased, most probably due to conformational changes in subdomain IIIA.