Shaoxiang Xiong

The anticancer drug cisplatin can cross-link the interdomain zinc site on human albumin.

Cisplatin, cis-[Pt(Cl(2)(NH(3))(2)], can crosslink residues His67 of domain I and His247 of domain II in human albumin, occupying the major binding site for the essential metal zinc on the protein.

Arene Control over Thiolate to Sulfinate Oxidation in Albumin by Organometallic Ruthenium Anticancer Complexes

Interactions of organometallic ruthenium anticancer complexes [Ru(eta6-arene)Cl(en)][PF6] (arene=p-cymene (1) or biphenyl (2), en=ethylenediamine) with human serum albumin were investigated by means of mass spectrometry combined with trypsin digestion, specific sidechain modifications and computational modelling. Both complexes were shown to bind to surface histidine (His128, His247, His510) and methionine (Met298) residues in human albumin, but only the p-cymene complex can gain entry to the crevice containing the free cysteine thiolate (Cys34) and induce oxidation to sulfinate. The two complexes exhibit a similar coordination preference for histidine and methionine residues on the protein surface. His128 binding is favoured both kinetically and thermodynamically. At 310 K, six days of incubation of recombinant human albumin (rHA) with complex 1 (rHA:Ru 50:250 microM) led to about 18 % ruthenation of His128 in the protein. However, the extent of ruthenation of albumin by complex 2 was less than that by 1, due to the steric hindrance from the biphenyl ligand. These results imply that the arene ligand in the organometallic ruthenium anticancer complexes plays a crucial role in interactions with proteins.

Transferrin Serves As a Mediator to Deliver Organometallic Ruthenium(II) Anticancer Complexes into Cells

We report herein a systematic study on interactions of organometallic ruthenium(II) anticancer complex [(η(6)-arene)Ru(en)Cl](+) (arene = p-cymene (1) or biphenyl (2), en = ethylenediamine) with human transferrin (hTf) and the effects of the hTf-ligation on the bioavailability of these complexes with cisplatin as a reference. Incubated with a 5-fold excess of complex 1, 2, or cisplatin, 1 mol of diferric hTf (holo-hTf) attached 0.62 mol of 1, 1.01 mol of 2, or 2.14 mol of cisplatin. Mass spectrometry revealed that both ruthenium complexes coordinated to N-donors His242, His273, His578, and His606, whereas cisplatin bound to O donors Tyr136 and Tyr317 and S-donor Met256 in addition to His273 and His578 on the surface of both apo- and holo-hTf. Moreover, cisplatin could bind to Thr457 within the C-lobe iron binding cleft of apo-hTf. Neither ruthenium nor platinum binding interfered with the recognition of holo-hTf by the transferrin receptor (TfR). The ruthenated/platinated holo-hTf complexes could be internalized via TfR-mediated endocytosis at a similar rate to that of holo-hTf itself. Moreover, the binding to holo-hTf well preserved the bioavailability of the ruthenium complexes, and the hTf-bound 1 and 2 showed a similar cytotoxicity toward the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 to those of the complexes themselves. However, the conjugation with holo-hTf significantly reduced the cellular uptake of cisplatin and the amount of platinated DNA adducts formed intracellularly, leading to dramatic reduction of cisplatin cytotoxicity toward MCF-7. These findings suggest that hTf can serve as a mediator for the targeting delivery of Ru(arene) anticancer complexes while deactivating cisplatin.

A novel strategy for MALDI-TOF MS analysis of small molecules

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) does not work efficiently on small molecules (usually with molecular weight below 500 Da) because of the interference of matrix-related peaks in low m/z region. The previous methods developed for this problem focused on reducing the peaks caused by the traditional matrices. Here, we report a novel strategy to analyze small molecules in a high and interference-free mass range by using metal-phthalocyanines (MPcs) as matrices which should be capable of forming matrix-analyte adducts. The mass of the target analyte was calculated by subtracting the mass of MPc from the mass of the MPc-analyte adduct. MPcs were also detectable and could serve as internal standards. Various MPcs with aromatic or aliphatic groups and different metal centers were then synthesized and explored. Aluminum-phthalocyanines (AlPcs), gallium-phthalocyanines (GaPcs), and indium-phthalocyanines (InPcs) were efficient matrices to form MPc-analyte adducts in either the positive or negative ion mode. The detection limits varied from 17 to 75 fmol, depending on analyte types. The mechanism of adducts formation was also proposed. Collectively, our strategy provides a novel and efficient way to analyze small molecules by MALDI-TOF MS.

2,3,4,5-Tetrakis(3',4'-dihydroxylphenyl)thiophene: a new matrix for the selective analysis of low molecular weight amines and direct determination of creatinine in urine by MALDI-TOF MS.

Small organic matrixes are still the most commonly used ones in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) because of their advantages of high sensitivity, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. However, due to the matrix interference in the low mass region, the direct analysis of low molecular weight amines in complex surroundings with conventional organic matrixes remains a challenge. Here, a new Brønsted-Lowry acid compound 2,3,4,5-tetrakis(3,4-dihydroxylphenyl)thiophene (DHPT) was designed, synthesized, and applied as a matrix for analysis of low molecular weight amines by MALDI-TOF MS. DHPT displays good selectivity in the analysis of amines without matrix-related interference and the low picomole/femtomole limit-of-detection was obtained in positive ion mode. With DHPT, the metabolites including creatinine, glycine, alloxan, allantoin, and 3-hydroxyhippuric acid in human urine were directly analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. The identity of these metabolites was confirmed by tandem mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the urine creatinine was quantitatively determined using isotope-labeled internal standard. This DHPT-assisted LDI MS method provides a general approach for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of low molecular weight amines.

N-(1-Naphthyl) Ethylenediamine Dinitrate: A New Matrix for Negative Ion MALDI-TOF MS Analysis of Small Molecules

An organic salt, N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine dinitrate (NEDN), with rationally designed properties of a strong UV absorbing chromophore, hydrogen binding and nitrate anion donors, has been employed as a matrix to analyze small molecules (m/zu2009<u20091000) such as oligosaccharides, peptides, metabolites and explosives using negative ion matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Compared with conventional matrixes such as α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CCA) and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB), NEDN provides a significant improvement in detection sensitivity and yields very few matrix-associated fragment and cluster ions interfering with MS analysis. For low-molecular-weight saccharides, the lowest detection limit achieved ranges from 500 amol to 5 pmol, depending on the molecular weight and the structure of the analytes. Additionally, the mass spectra in the lower mass range (m/zu2009<u2009200) consist of only nitrate and nitric acid cluster ions, making the matrix particularly useful for structural identification of oligosaccharides by post-source decay (PSD) MALDI-MS. Such a characteristic is illustrated by using maltoheptaose as a model system. This work demonstrates that NEDN is a novel negative ion-mode matrix for MALDI-MS analysis of small molecules with nitrate anion attachment.

Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Combined with Separation and Enrichment of Phosphopeptides by Titania Coated Magnetic Mesoporous Silica Microspheres for Screening of Protein Kinase Inhibitors

We describe herein the development of a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) approach for screening of protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs). MS quantification of phosphopeptides, the kinase-catalyzed products of nonphosphorylated substrates, is a great challenge due to the ion suppression effect of highly abundant nonphosphorylated peptides in enzymatic reaction mixtures. To address this issue, a novel type of titania coated magnetic hollow mesoporous silica spheres (TiO(2)/MHMSS) material was fabricated for capturing phosphopeptides from the enzymatic reaction mixtures prior to MS analysis. Under optimized conditions, even in the presence of 1000-fold of a substrate peptide of tyrosine kinase epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), the phosphorylated substrates at the femtomole level can be detected with high accuracy and reproducibility. With a synthetic nonisotopic labeled phosphopeptide, of which the sequence is similar to that of the phosphorylated substrate, as the internal standard, the MS signal ratio of the phosphorylated substrate to the standard is linearly correlated with the molar ratio of the two phosphopeptides in peptide mixtures over the range of 0.1 to 4 with r(2) being 0.99. The IC(50) values of three EGFR inhibitors synthesized in our laboratory were then determined, and the results are consistent with those determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The developed method is sensitive, cost/time-effective, and operationally simple and does not require isotope/radioative-labeling, providing an ideal alterative for screening of PKIs as therapeutic agents.

Organometallic ruthenium anticancer complexes inhibit human glutathione-S-transferase π

The organometallic ruthenium(II) anticancer complexes [(η(6)-arene)Ru(en)Cl](+) (arene = p-cymene (1), biphenyl (2) or 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene (3); en = ethylenediamine), exhibit in vitro and in vivo anticancer activities. In the present work, we show that they inhibit human glutathione-S-transferase π (GSTπ) with IC50 values of 59.4 ± 1.3, 63.2 ± 0.4 and 37.2 ± 1.1 μM, respectively. Mass spectrometry revealed that complex 1 binds to the S-donors of Cys15, Cys48 within the G-site and Cys102 at the interface of the GSTπ dimer, while complex 2 binds to Cys48 and Met92 at the dimer interface and complex 3 to Cys15, Cys48 and Met92. Moreover, the binding of complex 1 to Cys15 and Cys102, complex 2 to Cys48 and complex 3 to Cys15 induces the irreversible oxidation of the coordinated thiolates to sulfenates. Molecular modeling studies indicate that the coordination of the {(arene)Ru(en)}(2+) fragment to Cys48 blocks the hydrophilic G-site sterically, perhaps preventing substrate from proper positioning and accounting for the reduction in enzymatic activity of ruthenated GSTπ. The binding of the ruthenium arene complexes to Cys102 or Met92 disrupts the dimer interface which is an essential structural feature for the proper functioning of GSTπ, perhaps also contributing to the inhibition of GSTπ.

Competitive Binding Sites of a Ruthenium Arene Anticancer Complex on Oligonucleotides Studied by Mass Spectrometry: Ladder-Sequencing versus Top-Down

AbstractWe report identification of the binding sites for an organometallic ruthenium anticancer complex [(η6-biphenyl)Ru(en)Cl][PF6] (1; en = ethylenediamine) on the 15-mer single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs), 5′-CTCTCTX7G8Y9CTTCTC-3′ [X = Y = T (I); X = C and Y = A (II); X = A and Y = T (III); X = T and Y = A (IV)] by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) in conjunction with enzymatic digestion or tandem mass spectrometry (top-down MS). ESI-MS combined with enzymatic digestion (termed MS-based ladder-sequencing), is effective for identification of the thermodynamically-favored G-binding sites, but not applicable to determine the thermodynamically unstable T-binding sites because the T-bound adducts dissociate during enzymatic digestion. In contrast, top-down MS is efficient for localization of the T binding sites, but not suitable for mapping ruthenated G bases, due to the facile fragmentation of G bases from ODN backbones prior to the dissociation of the phosphodiester bonds. The combination of the two MS approaches reveals that G8 in each ODN is the preferred binding site for 1, and that the T binding sites of 1 are either T7 or T11 on I and IV, and either T6 or T11 on II and III, respectively. These findings not only demonstrate for the first time that T-bases in single-stranded oligonucleotides are kinetically competitive with guanine for such organoruthenium complexes, but also illustrate the relative merits of the combination of ladder-sequencing and top-down MS approaches to elucidate the interactions of metal anticancer complexes with DNA.n

1-naphthylhydrazine hydrochloride: a new matrix for the quantification of glucose and homogentisic acid in real samples by MALDI-TOF MS.

BACKGROUNDnDue to its strong ultraviolet absorption and low background interference in the low molecular weight region, 1-naphthylhydrazine hydrochloride (NHHC) has been selected as an ideal matrix to detect small molecules by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).nnnRESULTSnThis salt-tolerant matrix could be applied for the high sensitive glucose analysis with an ultra-low limit of detection of 1 amol, and the [glucose+Cl](-) signal can be found even in saturated NaCl solution. With NHHC, glucose in serum and the biomarker homogentisic acid in urine were successfully determined by MALDI-TOF MS in negative ion mode.nnnCONCLUSIONnThis NHHC-assisted laser desorption/ionization MS method provided a fast and high through-put approach for the small molecule analysis in complex samples, and have a great potential in clinical applications.