Structure of a ternary complex of lactoperoxidase with iodide and hydrogen peroxide at 1.77 Å resolution.

Lactoperoxidase (LPO) is a mammalian heme peroxidase which catalyzes the conversion of thiocyanate (SCN¯) and iodide (I-) by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into antimicrobial hypothiocyanite (OSCN¯) and hypoiodite (IO-). The prosthetic heme group is covalently attached to LPO through two ester linkages involving conserved glutamate and aspartate residues. On the proximal side, His351 is coordinated to heme iron while His 109 is located in the substrate binding site on the distal heme side. We report here the first structure of the ternary complex of LPO with iodide (I-) and H2O2 at 1.77 Å resolution. LPO was crystallized with ammonium iodide and the crystals were soaked in the reservoir solution containing H2O2. Structure determination showed the presence of an iodide ion and a H2O2 molecule in the substrate binding site. The iodide ion occupied the position which is stabilized by the interactions with heme moiety, His109, Arg255 and Glu258 while H2O2 was held between the heme iron and His109. The presence of I- in the distal heme cavity seems to screen the positive charge of Arg255 thus suppressing the proton transfer from H2O2 to His109. This prevents compound I formation and allows trapping of a stable enzyme-substrate (LPO-I--H2O2) ternary complex. This stable geometrical arrangement of H2O2 in the distal heme cavity of LPO is similar to that of H2O2 in the structure of the transient intermediate of the palm tree heme peroxidase. The biochemical studies showed that the catalytic activity of LPO decreased when the samples of LPO were preincubated with ammonium iodide.

The structural basis for the prevention of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug-induced gastrointestinal tract damage by the C-lobe of bovine colostrum lactoferrin.

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), due to their good efficacy in the treatment of pain, inflammation, and fever, are among the most prescribed class of medicines in the world. The main drawback of NSAIDs is that they induce gastric complications such as peptic ulceration and injury to the intestine. Four NSAIDs, indomethacin, diclofenac, aspirin, and ibuprofen were selected to induce gastropathy in mouse models. It was found that the addition of C-terminal half of bovine lactoferrin (C-lobe) reversed the NSAID-induced injuries to the extent of 47-70% whereas the coadministration of C-lobe prevented it significantly. The C-lobe was prepared proteolytically using serine proteases. The binding studies of C-lobe with NSAIDs showed that these compounds bind to C-lobe with affinities ranging from 2.6 to 4.8 x 10(-4) M. The complexes of C-lobe were prepared with the above four NSAIDs. All four complexes were crystallized and their detailed three-dimensional structures were determined using x-ray crystallographic method. The structures showed that all the four NSAID molecules bound to C-lobe at the newly identified ligand binding site in C-lobe that is formed involving two alpha-helices, alpha10 and alpha11. The ligand binding site is separated from the well known iron binding site by the longest and the most stable beta-strand, betaj, in the structure. Similar results were also obtained with the full length lactoferrin molecule. This novel, to our knowledge, binding site in C-lobe of lactoferrin shows a good complementarity for the acidic and lipophilic compounds such as NSAIDs. We believe this indicates that C-lobe of lactoferrin can be exploited for the prevention of NSAID-induced gastropathy.