INTERACTION OF CAMPTOTHECIN WITH HUMAN SERUM ALBUMIN DETERMINED BY FLUORESCENCE ANISOTROPY SPECTROSCOPY

The study can be useful for understanding the interaction of camptothecin with human serum albu- min. There are two forms of camptothecin (the carboxylate form (CPT-C) and the lactone form (CPT-L)) but only the lactone one is pharmacologically active. It was reported earlier that in the presence of HSA, the active lactone form of camptothecin changes to inactive carboxylate form and it reduces the antitumor activities of camptothecin. However, those studies were performed at physiological pH (7.4) and with non-oxidized and non-glycosylated albumin. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of oxidative stress, glycosylation, pH changes and competitor drugs on inactivation of lactone form of camptothecin in albumin solution using measurements of fluorescence anisotropy spectroscopy. It was tried to prove that in vivo camptothecin may be present in higher amount in lactone form than previously thought. Due to a reduction of pH value, a decreased rate of hydrolysis from CPT-L to CPT-C was observed. It was found in vitro a significant reduction in bound fraction of CPT-C to HSA oxidized by chloramine T or glycosylated by glucose. Moreover, as a result of block- ing binding of CPT-C to HSA by competitive compound (flurbiprofen), a decrease in the fluorescence anisotropy of the HSA-CPT complex was found. This study opens the way to review an application of CPT and its derivatives in therapy.