Chemical modification of human albumin at cys34 by ethacrynic acid: structural characterisation and binding properties

Derivatization of the free cys34 in human albumin, which is reported to occur under physiological conditions, has been performed in vitro by reaction of the protein with ethacrynic acid. This modification has been investigated by mass spectrometry and circular dichroism. Ethacrynic acid has been proven to bind human albumin either covalently and non-covalently. This post-translational modification does not determine significant changes in the secondary structure of the protein, as shown by the comparable circular dichroism spectra of the native and the modified proteins. Furthermore, the binding properties of the human albumin samples have been investigated by circular dichroism and equilibrium dialysis. The affinity to the higher affinity binding sites does not change either for drugs binding to site I, like phenylbutazone, or to site II, like diazepam, while a small but significant increase has been observed for bilirubin, known to bind to site III. Nevertheless significant decreases of the affinity at the lower affinity binding sites of the modified protein were observed for both drugs binding to site I or to site II.