Santarsia, S, Grosso AS, Trovão F, Jiménez-Barbero J, Carvalho AL, Nativi C, Marcelo F.
2018.
Molecular recognition of a Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen mimetic targeting human galectin-3, 2018. ChemMedChem. Aug 9. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.201800525. [Epub ahead of print](ja): Wiley-Blackwell
AbstractOverexpression of the Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) antigen in cell membrane proteins occurs in 90% of adenocarcinomas. Additionally, the binding of the TF-antigen to human galectin-3 (Gal-3), also frequently overexpressed in malignancy, promotes cancer progression and metastasis. In this context, structures that interfere with this specific interaction display the potential to prevent cancer metastasis. Herein, a multidisciplinary approach, combining the optimized synthesis of a TF-antigen mimetic with NMR, X-ray crystallography methods and isothermal titration calorimetry assays has been employed to unravel the molecular structural details that govern the Gal-3/TF-mimetic interaction. The TF-mimetic presents a binding affinity for Gal-3 similar to the TF-natural antigen and retains the binding epitope and the bioactive conformation observed for the native antigen. Furthermore, from a thermodynamic perspective a decrease in the enthalpic contribution was observed for the Gal-3/TF-mimetic complex, however this behaviour is compensated by a favourable entropy gain. From a structural perspective, these results establish our TF-mimetic as a scaffold to design multivalent solutions to potentially interfere with Gal-3 aberrant interactions and likely be used to hamper Gal-3-mediated cancer cells adhesion and metastasis.
Santos, MFA, Sciortino G, Correia I, Fernandes ACP, Santos-Silva T, Pisanu F, Garribba E, Pessoa JC.
2022.
Binding of VIVO2+, VIVOL, VIVOL2 and VVO2L Moieties to Proteins: X-ray/Theoretical Characterization and Biological Implications, 2022. Chemistry – A European JournalChemistry – A European Journal. 28(40):e202200105.: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
AbstractAbstract Vanadium compounds have frequently been proposed as therapeutics, but their application has been hampered by the lack of information on the different V-containing species that may form and how these interact with blood and cell proteins, and with enzymes. Herein, we report several resolved crystal structures of lysozyme with bound VIVO2+ and VIVOL2+, where L=2,2?-bipyridine or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), and of trypsin with VIVO(picolinato)2 and VVO2(phen)+ moieties. Computational studies complete the refinement and shed light on the relevant role of hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonds, and microsolvation in stabilizating the structure. Noteworthy is that the trypsin?VVO2(phen) and trypsin?VIVO(OH)(phen) adducts correspond to similar energies, thus suggesting a possible interconversion under physiological/biological conditions. The obtained data support the relevance of hydrolysis of VIV and VV complexes in the several types of binding established with proteins and the formation of different adducts that might contribute to their pharmacological action, and significantly widen our knowledge of vanadium?protein interactions.
dos Santos, R, Romão MJ, Roque ACA, Carvalho AL.
2021.
Magnetic particles used in a new approach for designed protein crystallization. CrystEngComm. 23:1083-1090.: The Royal Society of Chemistry
AbstractAfter more than one hundred and thirty thousand protein structures determined by X-ray crystallography{,} the challenge of protein crystallization for 3D structure determination remains. In the quest for additives for efficient protein crystallization{,} inorganic materials emerge as an alternative. Magnetic particles (MPs) are versatile inorganic materials{,} easy to use{,} modify and manipulate in a wide range of biological assays. The potential of using functionalised MPs as crystallization chaperones for protein crystallization was shown in this work. MPs with distinct coatings were rationally designed to promote protein crystallization by affinity-triggered heterogeneous nucleation. Hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) and trypsin{,} were crystallized in the presence of MPs either bare or coated with a polysaccharide (chitin) or a protein (casein){,} respectively. The addition of MPs was characterized in terms of bound protein to the MPs{,} crystal morphology{,} time-lapse of crystal emergence{,} crystallization yield fold change and crystal diffraction quality for structure determination. The MPs additives have shown to bind to the respective target protein{,} and to promote nucleation and crystal growth without compromising crystal morphology. On the other hand{,} MPs addition led to faster detectable crystal emergence and up to 13 times higher crystallization yield{,} addressing some the challenges in protein crystallization{,} the main bottleneck of macromolecular crystallography. Structure determination of the protein crystallized in the presence of MPs revealed that the structural characteristics of the protein remained unchanged{,} as shown by the superposition with PDB annotated proteins. Moreover{,} and unlike most reported cases{,} it was possible to exclude the inhibitor benzamidine during trypsin crystallisation{,} which is a remarkable result opening new prospects in enzyme engineering and drug design. Our results show that MPs coated with affinity ligands to target proteins can be used as controlled and tailor-made crystallization inducers.
dos Santos, R, Iria I, Manuel AM, Leandro AP, Madeira CAC, Goncalves J, Carvalho AL, Roque AC.
2020.
Magnetic Precipitation: A New Platform for Protein Purification, 2020. Biotechnology JournalBiotechnology Journal. n/a(n/a):2000151.: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
AbstractOne of the trends in downstream processing comprises the use of ?anything-but-chromatography? methods to overcome the current downfalls of standard packed-bed chromatography. Precipitation and magnetic separation are two techniques already proven to accomplish protein purification from complex media, yet never used in synergy. With the aim to capture antibodies directly from crude extracts, a new approach combining precipitation and magnetic separation was developed and named as affinity magnetic precipitation. A precipitation screening, based on the Hofmeister series, and a commercial precipitation kit were tested with affinity magnetic particles to assess the best condition for antibody capture from human serum plasma and clarified cell supernatant. The best conditions were obtained when using PEG3350 as precipitant at 4°C for 1h, reaching 80% purity and 50% recovery of polyclonal antibodies from plasma, and 99% purity with 97% recovery yield of anti-TNFα mAb from cell supernatants. These results show that the synergetic use of precipitation and magnetic separation can represent an alternative for the efficient capture of antibodies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Santos, MFA, Seixas JD, Coelho AC, Mukhopadhyay A, Reis PM, Romao MJ, Romao CC, Santos-Silva T.
2012.
New insights into the chemistry of fac- Ru(CO)(3) (2+) fragments in biologically relevant conditions: The CO releasing activity of Ru(CO)(3)Cl-2(1,3-thiazole) , and the X-ray crystal structure of its adduct with lysozyme. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. 117:285-291.
Abstractn/a
Santos, MFA, Correia I, Oliveira AR, Garribba E, Pessoa JC, Santos-Silva T.
2014.
Vanadium Complexes as Prospective Therapeutics: Structural Characterization of a VIV Lysozyme Adduct. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. :n/a–n/a.: WILEY-VCH Verlag
AbstractThe biological activity of vanadium complexes, namely, as insulin enhancers, is well known. We report a combined X-ray crystallography, electron paramagnetic resonance, and density functional theory study of the interaction of vanadium picolinate complexes with hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL). We show that the VIVO(pic)2 complex covalently binds to the COO– group of the side chain of Asp52 of HEWL. The long VIV=O bond obtained in the X-ray study is explained to be due to reduction of VIV to VIII during exposure of the crystals to the intense X-ray beam.