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Original Articles

Structure and Stability Analysis of Cytotoxic Complex of Camel α-Lactalbumin and Unsaturated Fatty Acids Produced at High Temperature

, , , , , , & show all
Pages 919-928 | Received 24 May 2010, Published online: 21 May 2012

Abstract

α-Lactalbumin (α-La), together with oleic acid can be converted to a complex, which kills tumor cells selectively. Cytotoxic α-La -oleic acid and a-La -linoleic acid complexes were generated by adding fatty acid to camel holo a-La at 60°C (referred to as La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 state, respectively). Structural properties of these complexes were studied and compared to the camel α-La. The experimental results show that linoleic acid induces a-La partial unfolding but oleic acid does not change the protein structure significantly. Also the stability of La-OA-60 and La- LA-60 toward thermal denaturation was measured. The order of temperature at the transition midpoint is as follows: La-LA-60 < La-0A-60 < α-La. La-0A-60 complex inhibited tubulin polymerization in vitro. Although the structures of La-0A-60 and La-LA-60 were different, these two complexes had similar cytotoxic effect to DU145 human prostate cancer cells. Samples of La-0A-60 that have been renatured after denaturation lost the specific biological activity toward tumor cells.

Abbreviations

α-La=

alpha-lactalbumin

MTT=

3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide

DMSO=

dimethyl sulfoxide

FBS=

fetal bovine serum

PBS=

phosphate buffered saline

La-OA-60 and La-LA-60=

complexes of camel α-lactalbumin with oleic acid and linoleic acid, respectively, prepared at 60°C as described in Materials and Methods

RMSD=

root mean square deviation

References