The effects of intramolecular H-bond formation on the stability constant and water exchange rate of the Gd(III)-diethylenetriamine-N'-(3-amino-1,1-propylenephosphonic)-N, N,N'',N''-tetraacetate complex.

The binding interaction of metal chelates to biological macromolecules, though driven by properly devoted recognition synthons, may cause dramatic changes in some property associated with the coordination cage such as the thermodynamic stability or the exchange rate of the metal coordinated water. Such changes are due to electrostatic and H-bonding interactions involving atoms of the coordination cage and atoms of the biological molecule at the binding site. To mimic this type of H-bonding interactions, lanthanide(III) complexes with a DTPA-monophosphonate ligand bearing a propylamino moiety (H6NP-DTPA) were synthesized. Their thermodynamic stabilities and the exchange lifetime of the coordinated water molecule (for the Gd-complex) were compared with those of the analog complexes with DTPA and the parent DTPA-monophosphonate derivative (H6P-DTPA). It was found that the intramolecular H-bond between the epsilon-amino group and the phosphonate moiety in NP-DTPA complexes causes displacements of electric charges in their coordination cage that are markedly pH dependent. In turn, this affects the characteristic properties of the coordination cage. In particular it results in a marked elongation of the exchange lifetime of the coordinated water molecule.

Tuftsin binds neuropilin-1 through a sequence similar to that encoded by exon 8 of vascular endothelial growth factor.

Tuftsin, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg (TKPR), is an immunostimulatory peptide with reported nervous system effects as well. We unexpectedly found that tuftsin and a higher affinity antagonist, TKPPR, bind selectively to neuropilin-1 and block vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) binding to that receptor. Dimeric and tetrameric forms of TKPPR had greatly increased affinity for neuropilin-1 based on competition binding experiments. On endothelial cells tetrameric TKPPR inhibited the VEGF(165)-induced autophosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) even though it did not directly inhibit VEGF binding to VEGFR-2. Homology between exon 8 of VEGF and TKPPR suggests that the sequence coded for by exon 8 may stabilize VEGF binding to neuropilin-1 to facilitate signaling through VEGFR-2. Given the overlap between processes involving neuropilin-1 and tuftsin, we propose that at least some of the previously reported effects of tuftsin are mediated through neuropilin-1.