Myeloperoxidase-Induced Oxidation of Albumin and Ceruloplasmin: Role of Tyrosines

Neutrophil myeloperoxidase (MPO) plays an important role in protecting the body against infections. MPO products–hypohalous acids and phenoxyl radicals–are strong oxidants that can damage not only foreign intruders but also host tissues, including blood plasma proteins. Here, we compared the MPO-induced oxidation of two plasma proteins with antioxidant properties–human serum albumin (HSA) and ceruloplasmin (CP). Incubation of both proteins with hypochlorite (NaOCl) or catalytically active MPO (MPO + H 2 O 2 ), which synthesizes hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in the presence of chloride ions, resulted in the quenching of protein tryptophan fluorescence. Oxidation-induced changes in the structures of HSA and CP were different. HSA efficiently neutralized MPO-generated oxidants without protein aggregation, while CP oxidation resulted in the formation of large aggregates stabilized by strong covalent bonds between the aromatic amino acid residues. Tyrosine is present in the plasma as free amino acid and also as a component of the polypeptide chains of the proteins. The number of tyrosine residues in a protein does not determine its propensity for aggregate formation. In the case of C P, protein aggregation was primarily due to the high content of tryptophan residues in its polypeptide chain. MPO-dependent oxidation of free tyrosine results in the formation of tyrosyl radicals, that do not oxidize aromatic amino acid residues in proteins because of the high rate of recombination with dityrosine formation. At the same time, free tyrosine can influence MPO-induced protein oxidation due to its ability to modulate HOCl synthesis in the MPO active site.