Pharmacokinetics following continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion of insulin aspart with or without initial subcutaneous bolus.

AIM: To evaluate time to steady state insulin concentration (C(ss)) following continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) of insulin aspart (IAsp) with or without an initial s.c. bolus. METHODS: In random order 10 healthy volunteers were given a basal insulin infusion rate (0.5 U/h) for 8 h with or without an initial s.c. bolus (1.4 U). Serum IAsp was measured until 3 h after infusion was stopped. RESULTS: An overshoot of IAsp was seen before C(ss) was achieved following an initial bolus of insulin as compared to no bolus. The apparent half-life (t((1/2))) with or without bolus did not differ (p = 0.15). Time to steady state (T(ss)) was evaluated in two ways: (1) T(ss) defined as the first point within an interval of C(ss)+/- 2 x CV was 233 vs. 166 min with and without a bolus respectively (p = 0.068). (2) A t-test was performed for each concentration-time point vs. mean C(ss), and the first point with no significance was defined, T(ss). This gave 208 (p = 0.09) and 178 min (p = 0.24) with and without bolus respectively. Mathematical modelling suggests that an ideal mean bolus should be 0.89 U, and that this bolus dose may result in a shorter T(ss). CONCLUSION: A bolus of 1.4 U resulted in an overshoot of serum IAsp before C(ss) and a longer period before C(ss) is achieved. Mathematical modelling suggests that a mean bolus of 0.89 U would result in a faster achievement of C(ss) compared to no bolus.

Role of solvent, pH, and molecular size in excited-state deactivation of key eumelanin building blocks: implications for melanin pigment photostability.

Ultrafast time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy has been used to investigate the excited-state dynamics of the basic eumelanin building block 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA), its acetylated, methylated, and carboxylic ester derivatives, and two oligomers, a dimer and a trimer in the O-acetylated forms. The results show that (1) excited-state decays are faster for the trimer relative to the monomer; (2) for parent DHICA, excited-state lifetimes are much shorter in aqueous acidic medium (380 ps) as compared to organic solvent (acetonitrile, 2.6 ns); and (3) variation of fluorescence spectra and excited-state dynamics can be understood as a result of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT). The dependence on the DHICA oligomer size of the excited-state deactivation and its ESIPT mechanism provides important insight into the photostability and the photoprotective function of eumelanin. Mechanistic analogies with the corresponding processes in DNA and other biomolecules are recognized.

UV light blocks EGFR signalling in human cancer cell lines.

UV light excites aromatic residues, causing these to disrupt nearby disulphide bridges. The EGF receptor is rich in aromatic residues near the disulphide bridges. Herein we show that laser-pulsed UV illumination of two different skin-derived cancer cell lines i.e. Cal-39 and A431, which both overexpress the EGF receptor, leads to arrest of the EGFR signaling pathway. The phosphorylation status of the receptor and the level of phosphorylated downstream signaling molecules i.e. AKT and the mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) ERK1 and 2 is detected by Western blotting using phosphospecific antibodies. There was a threshold level, below which the receptor could not be blocked. In addition, illumination caused the cells to upregulate the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1, irrespective of the p53 status. Since the EGF receptor is often overexpressed in cancers and other proliferative skin disorders, it might be possible to significantly reduce the proliferative potential of these cells making them good targets for laser-pulsed UV light treatment.

Quenchers induce wavelength dependence on protein fluorescence lifetimes.

We have analysed the picosecond resolved fluorescence emission decay of horseradish peroxidase A2 and of HEW lysozyme acquired with a streak camera. Analyses of the fluorescence decay data of both proteins revealed that the dynamics of the decay is dependent on the emission wavelength. Our data strongly indicates that resonance energy transfer occurring between aromatic residues and different protein fluorescence quencher groups, and the nature of the quencher groups, are the causes of the observed wavelength dependent mean lifetime distribution. Using the global analysis data to calculate the fluorescence mean lifetime at each wavelength revealed that for lysozyme, the mean fluorescence lifetime increased with observation wavelength, whereas the opposite was the case for peroxidase. Both proteins contain strong fluorescence quencher groups located in close spatial proximity to the protein's aromatic residues. Lysozyme contains disulfide bridges as the main fluorescence quencher whereas peroxidase contains a heme group. Both for lysozyme and horseradish peroxidase there is a clear correlation between the observed fluorescence mean lifetime of the protein at a particular emission wavelength and the respective quencher's extinction coefficient at the respective wavelength. Furthermore, our study also reports a comparison of the analyses of the fluorescence data done with three different methods. Analyses of the fluorescence decay at 10 different fluorescence emission wavelengths revealed significant differences in both fluorescence lifetimes and the pre-exponential factor distributions. Such values differed from the values recovered from the integrated decay curves and from global analyse.

Additive effects of Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide and proteins in monocyte inflammatory responses.

BACKGROUND: Chronic active gastritis associated with Helicobacter pylori infection is characterized by both a neutrophil and a mononuclear leukocyte infiltrate. While neutrophil functions in relation to H. pylori are well described, the interactions between Helicobacter bacterial factors and monocytes are poorly understood in relation to the mucosal inflammatory process. METHODS: Sonicates of a clinical strain as well as of a type strain of H. pylori were prepared in vitro. Monocytes from healthy donors were induced to release L-selectin (CD62L), to upregulate the adherence molecules (CD11a, CD11b. CD11c) and to produce toxic oxygen radicals. The inducing activities were assessed by flow cytometry and chemiluminescence. RESULTS: A dose-dependent shedding of CD62L and upregulation of CD11b and CD11c were observed with both bacterial strains as well as PMA and fMLP. CD11a remained unchanged. Activity could be attributed to bacterial factors of both lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and protein characteristics. The alterations observed for CD11b, CD11c and CD62L were induced by the same protein fractions in parallel. suggesting a common component and mechanism of action. A major protein component was urease, although other minor protein bands were found as well. Monoclonal antibodies to CD14-inhibited monocyte inflammatory responses induced by H. pylori sonicate at low concentration, whereas further LPS pierce-matrix reduction was necessary at high sonicate concentrations to reduce monocyte-inducing activity. CONCLUSIONS: Monocyte inflammatory activation is induced by H. pylori sonicate components. Factors of both LPS and protein characteristics are involved and an additive effect was demonstrated. Urease appears to be a major component in the protein preparations of highest inducing capacity. Further studies are warranted to assess whether the monocyte activation properties described here are related to the diversity of clinical gastroduodenal outcome for the chronic type B gastritis associated with H. pylori infection.

Atomic force microscopy study of the interaction of Fusarium solani pisi cutinase with lipid surfaces.

We present an atomic force microscopy (AFM) study of a supported triacylglyceride multilayer phase and its interaction with lipolytic enzyme cutinase from Fusarium solani pisi. The multilayer triacylglyceride phase of coconut oil showed a rippled surface structure in the AFM images. Upon enzymatic degradation of the triacylglyceride phase, the ripple structure vanished rapidly. The apparent catalytic rate constants could be estimated based on the AFM image information. Interestingly, in one sample we observed what we interpret as a recurrent structural collapse of the cavity dug out by the protein. We interpret the cavities seen in the AFM images as molten surfaces or surface holes filled with liquidified phase containing product molecules, which appear transparent during the image recording.

A critical view on conservative mutations.

By analysing the surface composition of a set of protein 3D structures, complemented with predicted surface compositional information for homologous proteins, we have found significant evidence for a layer composition of protein structures. In the innermost and outermost parts of proteins there is a net negative charge, while the middle has a net positive charge. In addition, our findings indicate that the concept of conservative mutation needs substantial revision, e.g. very different spatial preferences were found for glutamic acid and aspartic acid. The alanine screening often used in protein engineering projects involves the substitution of residues to alanine, based on the assumption that alanine is a "neutral" residue. However, alanine has a high negative correlation with all but the non-polar residues. We therefore propose the use of, for example, serine as a substitute for the residues that are negatively correlated with alanine.

Engineering the pH-optimum of a triglyceride lipase: from predictions based on electrostatic computations to experimental results.

The optimisation of enzymes for particular purposes or conditions remains an important target in virtually all protein engineering endeavours. Here, we present a successful strategy for altering the pH-optimum of the triglyceride lipase cutinase from Fusarium solani pisi. The computed electrostatic pH-dependent potentials in the active site environment are correlated with the experimentally observed enzymatic activities. At pH-optimum a distinct negative potential is present in all the lipases and esterases that we studied so far. This has prompted us to propose the "The Electrostatic Catapult Model" as a model for product release after cleavage of the ester bond. The origin of the negative potential is associated with the titration status of specific residues in the vicinity of the active site cleft. In the case of cutinase, the role of Glu44 was systematically investigated by mutations into Ala and Lys. Also, the neighbouring Thr45 was mutated into Proline, with the aim of shifting the spatial location of Glu44. All the charge mutants displayed altered titration behaviour of active site electrostatic potentials. Typically, the substitution of the residue Glu44 pushes the onset of the active site negative potential towards more alkaline conditions. We, therefore, predicted more alkaline pH optima, and this was indeed the experimentally observed. Finally, it was found that the pH-dependent computed Coulombic energy displayed a strong correlation with the observed melting temperatures of native cutinase.

Inflammatory activation of neutrophils by Helicobacter pylori; a mechanism insensitive to pertussis toxin.

Chronic active gastritis of the antral mucosa is a characteristic feature of infection with Helicobacter pylori and interactions between bacterial components and inflammatory cells are believed to play an important pathogenic role. Neutrophils stimulated with H. pylori sonicate were demonstrated to release L-selectin (CD62L) expressed on the cellular surface, with a subsequent up-regulation of the beta2-integrins CD11b and CD11c, both in a dose- and time-dependent manner, reaching maximum levels after 45-60 min of stimulation. No changes were observed for the CD11a receptor upon stimulation. The activating properties of H. pylori sonicates on neutrophils were heat-labile and susceptible to protease attack, indicating the protein nature of the activating factor. After size fractionation, the major neutrophil-inducing activity was detected in the high molecular weight fraction exhibiting urease activity. Pertussis toxin was unable to inhibit neutrophil activation by the H. pylori protein(s). We conclude that proteins from H. pylori have a potent inflammatory effect on the surface membrane molecules CD62L, CD11b and CD11c essential for transendothelial migration of neutrophils to areas of inflammation. The neutrophil-activating protein(s) act via a pertussis toxin-insensitive mechanism.

How do lipases and esterases work: the electrostatic contribution.

This work explores the role of one of the factors explaining lipase/esterase activity: the contribution of electrostatic interactions to lipase/esterase activity. The electrostatic potential distribution on the molecular surface of an enzyme as a function of pH determines, to a large extent, the enzyme's pH activity profile. Other important factors include the presence and distribution of polar and hydrophobic residues in the active cleft. We have mapped the electrostatic potential distribution as a function of pH on the molecular surface of nine lipases/esterases for which the 3D structure is experimentally known. A comparison of these potential maps at different pH values with the corresponding pH-activity profile, pH optimum or pH range where the activity displayed by the enzyme is maximum, has revealed a considerable correlation. A negative potential in the active site appears correlated with maximum activity towards triglycerides, which has prompted us to propose a model for product release ('The electrostatic catapult model') after cleavage of an ester bond. At the same time as the bottom of the active site cleft becomes negatively charged, other nearby regions also titrate and become negatively charged when pH becomes more alkaline, for some of the studied lipases. If such lipases also show phospholipase activity (such as guinea pig lipase-related proteins 2 chimera) we raise the hypothesis that such other titratable regions after becoming negatively charged might stabilise the positive charge present in the polar head of phospholipids, such as phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. The distribution of polar, weak polar and non-polar residues on the molecular surface of each studied lipase, in particular the active site region, was compared for all the lipases studied. The combination of graphical visualisation of the electrostatic potential maps and the polarity maps combined with knowledge about the location of key residues on the protein surface allows us to envision atomic models for lipolytic activity.

What distinguishes an esterase from a lipase: a novel structural approach.

Esterases and lipases both hydrolyse ester bonds. Whereas the lipases display high activity towards the aggregated state of its substrate, the esterases typically show highest activity towards the soluble state of its substrate. We have compared the amino acid sequence, the 3D-structure as well as the pH-dependent electrostatic signature of selected members of the two families, for which 3D-structural information is publicly available. Lipases display a statistically significant enhanced occurrence of non-polar residues close to the surface, clustering around the active-site. Lid opening appears to strengthen this pattern further. As we have proposed earlier the active site of lipases displays negative potential in the pH-range associated with their maximum activity, typically at pH values above 8. The esterases show a very similar pattern, however, at pH values around 6 correlated with their usually lower pH-activity optimum.

Dynamic light scattering of cutinase in AOT reverse micelles.

The fungal lipolytic enzyme cutinase, incorporated into sodium bis-(2ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate reversed micelles has been investigated using dynamic light scattering. The reversed micelles form spontaneously when water is added to a solution of sodium bis-(2ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate in isooctane. When an enzyme is previously dissolved in the water before its addition to the organic phase, the enzyme will be incorporated into the micelles. Enzyme encapsulation in reversed micelles can be advantageous namely to the conversion of water insoluble substrates and to carry out synthesis reactions. However protein unfolding occurs in several systems as for cutinase in sodium bis-(2ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate reversed micelles. Dynamic light scattering measurements of sodium bis-(2ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate reversed micelles with and without cutinase were taken at different water to surfactant ratios. The results indicate that cutinase was attached to the micellar wall and that might cause cutinase unfolding. The interactions between cutinase and the bis-(2ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate interface are probably the driving force for cutinase unfolding at room temperature. Twenty-four hours after encapsulation, when cutinase is unfolded, a bimodal distribution was clearly observed. The radii of reversed micelles with unfolded cutinase were determined and found to be considerable larger than the radii of the empty reversed micelles. The majority of the reversed micelles were empty (90-96% of mass) and the remainder (4-10%) containing unfolded cutinase were larger by 26-89 A.

In vitro determined kinetic properties of mutant phosphoglucomutases and their effects on sugar catabolism in Escherichia coli.

Based on primary amino acid sequence comparisons with other phosphoglucomutases, 12 conserved residues in the Acetobacter xylinum phosphoglucomutase (CelB) were substituted by site-directed mutagenesis, resulting in mutant enzymes with Kcat values [glucose-1-phosphate (G-1-P) to glucose-6-phosphate] ranging from 0 to 46% relative to that of the wild-type enzyme. In combination with a versatile set of plasmid expression vectors these proteins were used in a metabolic engineering study on sugar catabolism in Escherichia coli. Mutants of E. coli deficient in phosphoglucomutase synthesize intracellular amylose when grown on galactose, due to accumulation of G-1-P. Wild-type celB can complement this lesion, and we show here that the ability of the mutant enzymes to complement is sensitive to variations in their respective in vitro determined Kcat and Km G-1-P values. Reduced catalytic efficiencies could be compensated by increasing the CelB expression level, and in this way a mutant protein (substitution of Thr-45 to Ala) displaying a 7600-fold reduced catalytic efficiency could be used to eliminate the amylose accumulation. Complementation experiments with the homologous phosphoglucomutase indicated that a Km G-1-P value significantly below that of CelB is not critical for the in vivo conversion of the substrate.

Amino acid neighbours and detailed conformational analysis of cysteines in proteins.

Here we present an investigation of the contacts that cysteines make with residues in their three-dimensional environment and a comprehensive analysis of the conformational features of 351 disulphide bridges in 131 non-homologous single-chain protein structures. Upstream half-cystines preferentially have downstream neighbours, whereas downstream half-cystines have mainly upstream neighbours. Non-disulphide bridged cysteines (free cysteines) have no preference for upstream or downstream neighbours. Free cysteines have more contacts to non-polar residues and fewer contacts to polar/charged residues than half-cystines, which correlates with our observation that free cysteines are more buried than half-cystines. Free cysteines prefer to be located in alpha-helices while no clear preference is observed for half-cystines. Histidine and methionine are preferentially seen nearby free cysteines. Tryptophan is found preferentially nearby half-cystines. We have merged sequential and spatial information, and highly interesting novel patterns have been discovered. The number of cysteines per protein is typically an even number, peaking at four. The number of residues separating two half-cystines is preferentially 11 and 16. Left-handed and right-handed disulphide bridges display different conformational parameters. Here we present side chain torsion angle information based on a 5-12 times larger number of disulphide bridges than has previously been published. Considering the importance of cysteines for maintaining the 3D-structural scaffold of proteins, it is essential to have as accurate information as possible concerning the packing and conformational preferences. The present work may provide key information for engineering the protein environment around cysteines.

Protein engineering the surface of enzymes.

The protein surface is the interface through which a protein senses the external world. Its composition of charged, polar and hydrophobic residues is crucial for the stability and activity of the protein. The charge state of seven of the twenty naturally occurring amino acids is pH dependent. A total of 95% of all titratable residues are located on the surface of soluble proteins. In evolutionary related families of proteins such residues are particularly prone to substitutions, insertions and deletions. We present here an analysis of the residue composition of 4038 proteins, selected from 125 protein families with < 25% identity between core members of each family. Whereas only 16.8% of the residues were truly buried, 40.7% were > 30% exposed on the surface and the remainder were < 30% exposed. The individual residue types show distinct differences. The data presented provides an important new approach to protein engineering of protein surfaces. Guidelines for the optimization of solvent exposure for a given residue are given. The cutinase family of enzymes has been investigated. The stability of native cutinase has been studied as a function of pH, and has been compared with the cutinase activity towards tributyrin. Whereas the onset of enzymatic activity is linked with the deprotonation of the active site HIS188, destabilization of the 3D structure as determined by differential scanning calorimetry is coupled with the loss of activity at very basic pH values. A modeling investigation of the pH dependence of the electrostatic potentials reveals that the activity range is accompanied by the development of a highly significant negative potential in the active site cleft. The 3D structures of three mutants of the Fusarium solani pisi cutinase have been solved to high resolution using X-ray diffraction analysis. Preliminary X-ray data are presented.

The origin of trypsin: evidence for multiple gene duplications in trypsins.

The trypsin family of serine proteases is one of the most studied protein families, with a wealth of amino acid sequence information available in public databases. Since trypsin-like enzymes are widely distributed in living organisms in nature, likely evolutionary scenarios have been proposed. A novel methodology for Fourier transformation of biological sequences (FOTOBIS) is presented. The methodology is well suited for the identification of the size and extent of short repeats in protein sequences. In the present paper the trypsin family of enzymes is analyzed with FOTOBIS and strong evidence for tandem gene duplication is found. A likely evolutionary path for the development of present-day trypsins involved an intrinsic extensive tandem gene duplication of a small DNA fragment of 15-18 nucleotides, corresponding to five or six amino acids. This ancestral trypsin gene was subsequently duplicated, leading to the earliest version of a full-sized trypsin, from which the contemporary trypsins have developed.

Simulation of protein conformational freedom as a function of pH: constant-pH molecular dynamics using implicit titration.

Solution pH is a determinant parameter on protein function and stability, and its inclusion in molecular dynamics simulations is attractive for studies at the molecular level. Current molecular dynamics simulations can consider pH only in a very limited way, through a somewhat arbitrary choice of a set of fixed charges on the titrable sites. Conversely, continuum electrostatic methods that explicitly treat pH effects assume a single protein conformation whose choice is not clearly defined. In this paper we describe a general method that combines both titration and conformational freedom. The method is based on a potential of mean force for implicit titration and combines both usual molecular dynamics and pH-dependent calculations based on continuum methods. A simple implementation of the method, using a mean field approximation, is presented and applied to the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. We believe that this constant-pH molecular dynamics method, by correctly sampling both charges and conformation, can become a valuable help in the understanding of the dependence of protein function and stability on pH.

BBReader: a computer program for the combined use of the BioMagResBank and PDB databases.

A computer program ('BBReader') was developed which performs an inverse search in the BioMagResBank database. Given (cross) peak positions of a protein, the program searches for atoms with matching chemical shifts and suggests possible assignments for user-specified homo- and heteronuclear one- to three-dimensional COSY- and NOESY-type experiments. It can handle 1H, 13C and 15N spectra. Distance information from PDB files can be utilized for filtering possible NOESY cross peak assignments.