Dynamics of a heparin-binding domain of VEGF(165) complexed with its inhibitor triamterene

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which has neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects in addition to its major role in angiogenesis, interacts with Aβ and accumulates in the senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients' brains. It is known that Aβ binds to the heparin-binding domain (HBD) of the 165-amino acid VEGF variant, VEGF(165). In this study, we showed that triamterene (Trm) inhibits VEGF--Aβ interaction without affecting other biological activities of VEGF or Aβ. We investigated the importance of structural and dynamic features of HBD for its molecular-recognition processes. The binding model of HBD and Trm was constructed based on measurements of chemical shift changes and docking study. The results showed that the loop region (S11-L17) and F18 at the beginning of the first β-sheet in the HBD constitute the inhibitor binding site. The N1 atom of pteridine ring of Trm forms hydrogen bonding with backbone amide proton of R13, and the phenyl ring took part in a hydrophobic interaction with the aromatic ring of F18. To investigate the functional importance of the inherent structural flexibility of the HBD in VEGF, the dynamic properties of free HBD and HBD--Trm complex were assessed by measuring spin relaxation rates, and the backbone dynamics were investigated by model-free analysis. The residues in the disordered loop region of the N-terminus exhibited conformational exchanges in free HBD, and flexibility of this loop region decreased dramatically upon binding to Trm, suggesting that Aβ as well as inhibitor may recognize these unique dynamic features of the HBD. Furthermore, C-terminal residues continued to exhibit slow conformational motions, even in the HBD--Trm complex, implying that these motions at the C-terminus of the HBD might be important for interactions with heparin molecules. The flexibility of HBD demonstrated here should be essential for VEGF function and interaction with other protein partners.