No abstract

Noscapine is effective to inhibit cellular proliferation and induced apoptosis in nonsmall cell, lung, breast, lymphoma, and prostate cancer. It also shows good efficiency to skin cancer cells. In the current work, we studied the mechanism of interaction between the anticancer drug noscapine (NOS) and carrier protein human serum albumin (HSA) by using a variety of spectroscopic techniques (fluorescence spectroscopy, time-resolved fluorescence, UV−visible, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy), electrochemistry (cyclic voltammetry), and computational methods (molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation). The steady-state fluorescence results showed that fluorescence intensity of HSA decreased in the presence of NOS via a static quenching mechanism, which involves ground state complex formation between NOS and HSA. UV−visible and FRET results also supported the fluorescence result. The corresponding thermodynamic result shows that binding of NOS with HSA is exothermic in nature, involving electrostatic interactions as major binding forces. The binding results were further confirmed through a cyclic voltammetry approach. The FRET result signifies the energy transfer from Trp214 of HSA to the NOS. Molecular site marker, molecular docking, and MD simulation results indicated that the principal binding site of HSA for NOS is site I. Synchronous fluorescence spectra, FTIR, 3D fluorescence, CD spectra, and MD simulation results reveal that NOS induced the structural change in HSA. In addition, the MTT assay study on a human skin cancer cell line (A-431) was also performed for NOS, which shows that NOS induced 80% cell death of the population at a 320 μM concentration. Moreover, the esterase-like activity of HSA with NOS was also done to determine the variation in protein functionality after binding with NOS.

Protein stability has been a concern for researchers for a long time as they are sensitive toward their environment. Mostly proteins during experiments require medium that keep them stable at room temperature (RT). Recent research utilizing ionic liquids (ILs) to stabilize protein has gained much importance. Although a few ILs have been claimed to suit this requirement, reported studies employ IL concentrations that might produce irreversible denaturation and aggregation. This study demonstrates the first report for long-term stabilization of horse heart cytochrome c (h-cyt c) by long-chain imidazolium ILs at far low concentration (1 mM) of IL when stored at RT. Long-chain imidazolium ILs until now were less familiar for their stabilizing nature toward protein. A significant increase in the helical content of h-cyt c (dissolved state) was observed with prolonged structural stability (secondary and tertiary) for about 6 months in aqueous solutions of 1-methyl-3-octyl imidazolium chloride [C8mim]­[Cl] and 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [C10mim]­[Cl]. The in-depth mechanism discussed suggests interaction of ILs with amino acid residues of h-cyt c, which rigidifies the loop regions with reduced mobility; hence, prolonged stability is achieved. The study firmly advocates the use of long-chain imidazolium ILs as the potent inhibitor against denaturation during storage of h-cyt c at RT.

The present work reports the interaction of morpholinium based ionic liquid with the transporter protein, human serum album (HSA). The ionic liquids with morpholinium cationic groups are reported to be comparatively less toxic than other cationic groups of the ionic liquids such as imidazolium, pyridinium, piperidinium, pyrrolidinium etc. This work highlight the effect of N‐butyl‐N‐methyl‐morpholinium bromide, [Mor1,4][Br] ionic liquid on the structural stability of HSA. The effect was analyzed by using fluorescence, time resolved fluorescence, UV‐visible, CD spectroscopic techniques and molecular docking method. The results show that [Mor1,4][Br] binds with HSA through weak interactions in which hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces play major role. [Mor1,4][Br] has a binding site on HSA and binds in the hydrophobic pocket of subdomain IIA of HSA. It was observed that [Mor1,4][Br] retain native conformation of HSA upto certain concentration range. This study endows new insight for designing of such type of non‐toxic ILs that augments their protein stabilizing nature.

Herein, we are reporting the interaction of ionic liquid type gemini surfactant, 1,4-bis(3-dodecylimidazolium-1-yl) butane bromide ([C12-4-C12 im]Br2) with lysozyme by using Steady state fluorescence, UV-visible, Time resolved fluorescence, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy techniques in combination with molecular modeling and docking method. The steady state fluorescence spectra suggested that the fluorescence of lysozyme was quenched by [C12-4-C12 im]Br2 through static quenching mechanism as confirmed by time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The binding constant for lysozyme-[C12-4-C12 im]Br2 interaction have been measured by UV-visible spectroscopy and found to be 2.541 × 10(5) M(-1). The FT-IR results show conformational changes in the secondary structure of lysozyme by the addition of [C12-4-C12 im]Br2. Moreover, the molecular docking study suggested that hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions play a key role in the protein-surfactant binding. Additionally, the molecular dynamic simulation results revealed that the lysozyme-[C12-4-C12 im]Br2 complex reaches an equilibrium state at around 3 ns.