Site-specific conjugation of a lanthanide chelator and its effects on the chemical synthesis and receptor binding affinity of human relaxin-2 hormone
- Florey Neuroscience Institutes, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010 (Australia)
Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A mono-Eu-DTPA conjugated peptide ligand, Eu-DTPA-(A)-H2, has been developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The choice of a site for incorporation of a chelator is critical. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The labeled peptide retains full activity at the RXFP1 receptor. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It is markedly cheaper to produce and easier to use than radioactive probes. -- Abstract: Diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) is a popular chelator agent for enabling the labeling of peptides for their use in structure-activity relationship study and biodistribution analysis. Solid phase peptide synthesis was employed to couple this commercially available chelator at the N-terminus of either the A-chain or B-chain of H2 relaxin. The coupling of the DTPA chelator at the N-terminus of the B-chain and subsequent loading of a lanthanide (europium) ion into the chelator led to a labeled peptide (Eu-DTPA-(B)-H2) in low yield and having very poor water solubility. On the other hand, coupling of the DTPA and loading of Eu at the N-terminus of the A-chain led to a water-soluble peptide (Eu-DTPA-(A)-H2) with a significantly improved final yield. The conjugation of the DTPA chelator at the N-terminus of the A-chain did not have any impact on the secondary structure of the peptide determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD). On the other hand, it was not possible to determine the secondary structure of Eu-DTPA-(B)-H2 because of its insolubility in phosphate buffer. The B-chain labeled peptide Eu-DTPA-(B)-H2 required solubilization in DMSO prior to carrying out binding assays, and showed lower affinity for binding to H2 relaxin receptor, RXFP1, compared to the water-soluble A-chain labeled peptide Eu-DTPA-(A)-H2. The mono-Eu-DTPA labeled A-chain peptide, Eu-DTPA-(A)-H2, thus can be used as a valuable probe to study ligand-receptor interactions of therapeutically important H2 relaxin analogs. Our results show that it is critical to choose an approriate site for incorporating chelators such as DTPA. Otherwise, the bulky size of the chelator, depending on the site of incorporation, can affect yield, solubility, structure and pharmacological profile of the peptide.
- OSTI ID:
- 22207792
- Journal Information:
- Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 420, Issue 2; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Activation of transmembrane bile acid receptor TGR5 stimulates insulin secretion in pancreatic {beta} cells
A novel contrast agent with rare earth-doped up-conversion luminescence and Gd-DTPA magnetic resonance properties