Induced circular dichroism (ICD), or induced chirality, is a phenomenon caused by the fixation of an achiral substance inside a chiral microenvironment, such as the hydrophobic cavities in proteins. Dansylglycine belongs to a class of dansylated amino acids, which are largely used as fluorescent probes for the characterization of the binding sites in albumin. Here, we investigated the ICD in dansylglycine provoked by its binding to human serum albumin (HSA). We found that the complexation of HSA with dansylglycine resulted in the appearance of an ICD band centred at 346 nm. Using this ICD signal and site-specific ligands of HSA, we confirmed that dansylglycine is a site II ligand. The intensity of the ICD signal was dependent on the temperature and revealed that the complexation between the protein and the ligand was reversible. The induced chirality of dansylglycine was susceptive to the alteration caused by the oxidation of the protein. A comparison was made between hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and hypobromous acid (HOBr), and revealed that site II in the protein is more susceptible to alteration provoked by the latter oxidant. These findings suggest the relevance of the aromatic amino acids in the site II, since HOBr is a more efficient oxidant of these residues in proteins than HOCl. The three-dimensional structure of HSA is pH-dependent, and different conformations have been characterised. We found that HSA in its basic form at pH 9.0, which causes the protein to be less rigid, lost the capacity to bind dansylglycine. At pH 3.5, HSA retained almost all of its capacity for binding to dansylglycine. Since the structure of HSA at pH 3.5 is expanded, separating the domain IIIA from the rest of the molecule, we concluded that this separation did not alter its binding capacity to dansylglycine.

Apatone™, a combination of menadione (2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, VK3) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C, VC) is a new strategy for cancer treatment. Part of its effect on tumor cells is related to the cellular pro-oxidative imbalance provoked by the generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) through naphthoquinone redox cycling. In this study, we attempted to find new naphthoquinone derivatives that would increase the efficiency of H2O2 production, thereby potentially increasing its efficacy for cancer treatment. The presence of an electron-withdrawing group in the naphthoquinone moiety had a direct effect on the efficiency of H2O2 production. The compound 2-bromo-1,4-naphthoquinone (BrQ), in which the bromine atom substituted the methyl group in VK3, was approximately 10- and 19-fold more efficient than VK3 in terms of oxygen consumption and H2O2 production, respectively. The ratio [H2O2]produced / [naphthoquinone]consumed was 68 ± 11 and 5.8 ± 0.2 (µM/µM) for BrQ and VK3, respectively, indicating a higher efficacy of BrQ as a catalyst for the autoxidation of ascorbic acid. Both VK3 and BrQ reacted with glutathione (GSH), but BrQ was the more effective substrate. Part of GSH was incorporated into the naphthoquinone, producing a nucleophilic substitution product (Q-SG). The depletion of BrQ by GSH did not prevent its redox capacity since Q-SG was also able to catalyze the production of reactive oxygen species. VK3/VC has already been submitted to clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer and has demonstrated promising results. However, replacement of VK3 with BrQ will open new lines of investigation regarding this approach to cancer treatment.

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The long-tem use of chlorpromazine (CPZ) may cause severe side effects. This property of CPZ might be related to pro-oxidant effects of the chlorpromazine cation radical (CPZ^·+), which can be easily generated by catalytic action of peroxidases, including the neutrophil myeloperoxidase (MPO) and by methemoglobin. Aiming the comprehension of a putative physiological effect of CPZ^·+ upon biomolecules, in this work we studied the reactivity of CPZ^·+ with amino acids and the co-catalytic effect of CPZ during the oxidation of amino acids by horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/H₂O₂ system. We also studied whether natural blood plasma components as ascorbic acid, uric acid and nitrite could inhibit the oxidative effect of CPZ^·+. We found that tryptophan, tyrosine and cysteine were easily oxidized by pure CPZ^·+. Other amino acids as methionine, glycine, phenylalanine, aspartic acid and lysine were unreactive. The decomposition of CPZ^·+ was exacerbated by uric acid, ascorbic acid and nitrite, provoking inhibition in the amino acids oxidation. In experiments with HRP/H₂O₂, and using CPZ as a co-catalyst, a strong effect upon oxidation of tryptophan, tyrosine and cysteine was obtained. It was also found that tryptophan was more reactive than tyrosine with CPZ^·+, a feature that could be related to the recently described favorable interaction between tryptophan and CPZ. The use of CPZ as a co-catalyst is discussed regarding its role in the efficient oxidation of tryptophan

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