Vikram Roongta

Eosinophil Peroxidase Oxidation of Thiocyanate CHARACTERIZATION OF MAJOR REACTION PRODUCTS AND A POTENTIAL SULFHYDRYL-TARGETED CYTOTOXICITY SYSTEM

Although the pseudohalide thiocyanate (SCN−) is the preferred substrate for eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) in fluids of physiologic halide composition, the product(s) of this reaction have not been directly identified, and mechanisms underlying their cytotoxic potential are poorly characterized. We used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and quantitative chemical analysis to identify the principal reaction products of both the EPO/SCN−/H2O2 system and activated eosinophils as roughly equimolar amounts of OSCN−(hypothiocyanite) and OCN− (cyanate). Red blood cells exposed to increasing concentrations of OSCN−/OCN− are first depleted of glutathione, after which glutathione S-transferase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase then ATPases undergo sulfhydryl (SH) reductant-reversible inactivation before lysing. OSCN−/OCN− inactivates red blood cell membrane ATPases 10–1000 times more potently than do HOCl, HOBr, and H2O2. Exposure of glutathioneS-transferase to [14C]OSCN−/OCN− causes SH reductant-reversible disulfide bonding and covalent isotope labeling. We propose that EPO/SCN−/H2O2reaction products comprise a potential SH-targeted cytotoxic system that functions in striking contrast to HOCl, the highly but relatively indiscriminantly reactive product of the neutrophil myeloperoxidase system.

NMR structure and dynamics of monomeric neutrophil-activating peptide 2

Neutrophil-activating peptide 2 (NAP-2), which demonstrates a range of proinflammatory activities, is a 72-residue protein belonging to the alpha-chemokine family. Although NAP-2, like other alpha-chemokines, is known to self-associate into dimers and tetramers, it has been shown that the monomeric form is physiologically active. Here we investigate the solution structure of monomeric NAP-2 by multi-dimensional 1H-NMR and 15N-NMR spectroscopy and computational modelling. The NAP-2 monomer consists of an amphipathic, triple-stranded, anti-parallel beta-sheet on which is folded a C-terminal alpha-helix and an aperiodic N-terminal segment. The backbone fold is essentially the same as that found in other alpha-chemokines. 15N T1, T2 and nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs) have been measured for backbone NH groups and used in a model free approach to calculate order parameters and conformational exchange terms that map out motions of the backbone. N-terminal residues 1 to 17 and the C-terminus are relatively highly flexible, whereas the beta-sheet domain forms the most motionally restricted part of the fold. Conformational exchange occurring on the millisecond time scale is noted at the top of the C-terminal helix and at proximal residues from beta-strands 1 and 2 and the connecting loop. Dissociation to the monomeric state is apparently responsible for increased internal mobility in NAP-2 compared with dimeric and tetrameric states in other alpha-chemokines.

Ionization and solubilization of 4 alkyl benzoic acids and 4 alkyl anilines in sodium taurodeoxycholate solutions

AbstractPurpose. The aqueous solubility and the extent of solubilization and ionization constant in sodium taurodeoxycholate (NaTDC) solutions of a series of benzoic acid and aniline derivatives were measured as a basis to characterize and thereby help predict the nature of the interaction of drugs with bile aggregates. Methods. The aqueous solubility and the solubilization of two series of compounds, 4-alkyl benzoic acids and 4-alkyl anilines, was measured as a function of NaTDC in 0 and 150 mM NaCl. The ionization constants were determined in water and in 50 mM NaTDC at sodium chloride concentrations of 0, 75 and 150 mM by spectrophotometric titration. The diffusion coefficients of NaTDC and the solutes were measured by pulsed-field gradient spin echo NMR spectroscopy. Results. The aqueous solubilities decreased with increasing alkyl chain length in both series, and the aniline derivatives had larger solubilities than the benzoic acid derivatives. The number of moles of solute solubilized per mole of bile salt ranged from 0.17 to 0.31 for the benzoic acid derivatives and from 1.3 to 3.0 for the aniline derivatives. The pKa values of the benzoic acid derivatives in the presence of NaTDC were higher relative to the controls, and the difference in the pKa (ΔpKa,obs) increased with increasing chain length. With the aniline derivatives, the pKa values were also shifted to higher values in NaTDC relative to the control but only in the absence of salt. The presence of the solute caused a decrease in the diffusion coefficient of NaTDC, and the diffusion coefficients of the solutes decreased with increasing alkyl chain length. With the hexyl derivatives, the diffusion coefficient of the solute was smaller than the diffusion coefficient of the bile salt. The chemical shift of the protons attached to carbon 18 and 19 of the bile salt were decreased to a greater extent in the presence of the solutes than the protons attached to carbon 26. Conclusions. Both the solubilization and ionization behavior of solutes were affected by the presence of bile salt aggregates. The surface potential and effective polarity of NaTDC aggregates were found to be dependent on the alkyl chain length for these two homologous series of solutes. The solubilization ratio was largely independent of alkyl chain length, but the unitary partition coefficient was dependent on both the alkyl chain length as well as ionization state. The derivatives reduced the diffusivity of the micelles suggesting the formation of larger sized aggregates and the solutes (hexyl derivatives) appear to favor association with the larger sized aggregates. The phenyl ring of the solutes appears to be oriented parallel to the plane of the steroid frame with preferential positioning near the hydrophobic rings.

Designing water soluble β-sheet peptides with compact structure

Publisher Summary β-sheet peptide design has proved more complicated primarily because of limited solubility via aggregation in water and to the nature of β-sheet folding that is dictated by long range interactions. The betabellin series and betadoublet peptides, for example, are soluble in water primarily at lower pH values and show non-compact β-sheet conformational properties as monitored by circular dichroism (CD) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). A reason for problems in producing water-soluble, compact β-sheet peptides may lie in the fact that their design usually has been based on a number of structural propensity scales that are derived either statistically from structural databases of known folded proteins or by making single or minimal site-specific changes in a fully folded protein. Even though some β-hairpin and α/β peptides are water-soluble, form β-sheet structures and remain monomeric, larger de novo designed β-sheet- forming peptides, like betadoublet and betabellin, are inherently designed to self-associate through their otherwise solvent-exposed amphipathic hydrophobic surface. Other amphipathic β-sheet forming peptides have been derived from proteins in the α-chemokine family, including platelet factor-4 (PF4), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and growth related protein (Gro-α). The present communication summarizes a novel approach to de novo design of such water-soluble β-sheet sandwich peptides with compact structure. Analysis of the composition, folding, and solubility properties of PF4, IL-8, Gro-α 33mers and betadoublet and betabellin peptides has led to a general recipe for designing water soluble, β-sheet forming peptides.