Proton nuclear magnetic resonance study on the multimode interactions of human serum albumin with drug molecules

The interactions of human serum albumin (HSA) with a number of ligands (mostly drugs) were examined by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Ligand presence-absence difference spectra of HSA solutions were measured. Nonspecifically bound drugs such as tiaramide showed difference spectrum patterns which were similar to the spectra of the drugs themselves but were broadened as to the line-widths of signals. Thus, the difference spectra of these drugs reflect only the changes in the surroundings of the drug molecules, that is, between the bound and free states. In contrast, specifically bound drugs like ibuprofen and warfarin showed difference spectra in which signals from the HSA molecule only were observed. Furthermore, according to the characteristic peaks in these difference spectrum patterns, specifically bound drugs may be classified into several groups; the drugs in the first group bind to the ibuprofen binding site, those in the second group to the warfarin binding site, and those in the third group to sites other than the warfarin and ibuprofen sites. These findings suggest that the specific binding of drugs to HSA brings about a conformational change of this protein which is specifically correlated to the binding site.