A rapid and robust assay for the determination of the amino acid hypusine as a possible biomarker for a high-throughput screening of antimalarials and for the diagnosis and therapy of different diseases

Eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) has recently been identified as a biomarker of prognostic significance and therapeutic potential for the treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma. This prompted us to establish a rapid and robust assay to determine deoxyhypusine and hypusine formed with the purified enzymes deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS) and deoxyhypusine hydroxylase (DOHH) from Plasmodium to develop a rapid screening assay for antimalarial drugs. The peptide hydrolysate obtained from hypusinylated eIF5A was analyzed by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with retention times for deoxyhypusine of 7.44 min and for hypusine of 7.30 min, respectively. The limit of detection for both compounds was 0.144 ng/μl. Determination of the specific activity of Plasmodium DOHH resulted in a twofold higher specific activity than its human counterpart. Following the iron-complexing strategy of the ferrous iron which is present in the active site of Plasmodium DOHH, a series of iron chelating compounds was tested. 2,2′-Dipyridyl and mimosine abolished DOHH activity completely while 4-oxo-piperidine-carboxylates i.e. the nitrophenylether JK8-2 and EHW 437, the oxime ether of the piperidine aldehyde, showed no inhibition although they were highly active in in vitro cultures of Plasmodium and in vivo in a rodent mouse model. The method allows a high-throughput screening (HPTS) of antimalarial drugs and the evaluation of eIF5A as a biomarker.