Serum albumins are ubiquitous proteins able to bind a variety of exogenous and endogenous ligands including hydrophobic pharmaceuticals. Most drugs bind to two very active binding regions located within sub-domains IIA and IIIA of the protein, also known as Sudlow's sites. The drug binding mode of serum albumin provides important pharmacological information and influences drug solubility, efficacy, biological distribution, and excretion. Here, the binding thermodynamics of Diclofenac and Naproxen, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to bovine and human serum albumins (BSA and HSA, respectively) were studied by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), fluorescence spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The ITC data show that the binding affinity (K) of Diclofenac to BSA and HSA is on the order of 10 4 M-1 with a binding stoichiometry (n) of 2 drug molecules per protein. Naproxen binding to the two proteins exhibits a different profile with K and n values on the order of 10 6 M-1 and 0.75 for BSA and 10 5 M-1 and 3 for HSA, respectively. The binding of the two drugs to HSA is found to be both enthalpically and entropically favored suggesting the formation of hydrogen bonds and van der Waals hydrophobic effects. Binding of the two drugs to BSA is only enthalpically favored with an unfavorable entropy term. Significant enthalpyentropy compensation phenomena were reported for Diclofenac and Naproxen binding to BSA but not to HSA. Fluorescence quenching data between Diclofenac and the two proteins suggest static collisions and the formation of ground-state protein-drug complexes. The DSC data corroborate the ITC findings and show multiple sequential unfolding events and a strong drug stabilization effect at high drug to protein ratios. Overall, the calorimetric and spectroscopic data provided insights into the nature of these protein-drugs interactions and might offer useful information in future drug discovery studies.

Background The binding of metal ions to proteins is a crucial process required for their catalytic activity, structural stability and/or functional regulation. Isothermal titration calorimetry provides a wealth of fundamental information which when combined with structural data allow for a much deeper understanding of the underlying molecular mechanism. Scope of review A rigorous understanding of any molecular interaction requires in part an in-depth quantification of its thermodynamic properties. Here, we provide an overview of recent studies that have used ITC to quantify the interaction of essential first raw transition metals with relevant proteins and highlight major findings from these thermodynamic studies. General significance The thermodynamic characterization of metal ions-proteins interactions is one important step to understanding the role that metal ions play in living systems. Such characterization has important implications not only to elucidating proteins’ structure-function relationships and biological properties but also in the biotechnology sector, medicine and drug design particularly since a number of metal ions are involved in several neurodegenerative diseases. Major conclusions Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements can provide complete thermodynamic profiles of any molecular interaction through the simultaneous determination of the reaction binding stoichiometry, binding affinity as well as the enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy change thus enabling a more in-depth understanding of the nature of these interactions.