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Human Calprotectin: Effect of Calcium and Zinc on its Secondary and Tertiary Structures, and Role of pH in its Thermal Stability

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Acta Biochim Biophys

Sin 2007, 39: 795-802

doi:10.1111/j.1745-7270.2007.00343.x

Human Calprotectin: Effect of Calcium

and Zinc on its Secondary and Tertiary Structures, and Role of pH in its

Thermal Stability

Reza YOUSEFI1,

Mehdi IMANI1, Susan K ARDESTANI1*, Ali Akbar

SABOURY1, Nematollah GHEIBI2, and Bijan

RANJBAR3

1

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran P. O.

Box 13145-1365, Iran;

2 Department of Physiology and Medical

Physics, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran;

3

Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Science, Tarbiat Modares University,

Tehran, Iran

Received: March 03,

2007       

Accepted: May 16,

2007

This work was

supported by grants from the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) and the

Research Council of the University of Tehran.

*Corresponding

author: Tel, 98-21-66409517; Fax, 98-21-66404680; E-mail,

[email protected]

Abstract        Calprotectin, a heterodimeric complex belonging to the S100

protein family, has been found predominantly in the cytosolic fraction of

neutrophils. In the present study, human calprotectin was purified from

neutrophils using two-step ion exchange chromatography. The purified protein

was used for circular dichroism study and fluorescence analysis in the presence

of calcium and zinc at physiological concentrations, as well as for assessment

of its inhibitory activity on the K562 leukemia cell line. The thermal

stability of the protein at pH 7.0 (physiological pH) and 8.0 (similar to

intestinal pH) was also compared. The results of cell proliferation analysis

revealed that human calprotectin initiated growth inhibition of the tumor cells

in a dose-dependent manner. The intrinsic fluorescence emission spectra of

human calprotectin (50 mg/ml) in the presence of calcium and zinc ions show a reduction in

fluorescence intensity, reflecting a conformational change within the protein

with exposure of aromatic residues to the protein surface that is important for

the biological function of calprotectin. The far ultraviolet-circular dichroism

spectra of human calprotectin in the presence of calcium and zinc ions at

physiological concentrations show a decrease in the a-helical content of the

protein and an increase in b– and other structures. Our results also show that increasing the pH

level from 7.0 to 8.0 leads to a marked elevation in the thermal stability of

human calprotectin, indicating a significant role for pH in the stability of

calprotectin in the gut.

Keywords        calprotectin; calcium; zinc; circular dichroism; thermal

stability

The myeloid-related protein 8 (MRP8) and MRP14 are two small anionic

proteins structurally related to the S100 protein family with zinc- and calcium-binding

capacity [1]. The two myeloid-derived proteins are abundant in the cytosolic

fraction of neutrophils and in lesser amount in monocytes [2]. They form a

heterodimeric complex in a calcium-regulated process that has been called the

calprotectin, MRP8/14, cystic fibrosis antigen, protein complex, Mac 387 and

27E10 antigen [35]. Human MRP8 (S100A8) and MRP14 (S100A9) have molecular masses of

approximately 11 and 14 kDa and are composed of 93 and 114 amino acids,

respectively [6]. The abundance of calprotectin in neutrophils and the

calcium-binding capacity of this protein suggest a role in signal transduction

[7].Each subunit of this calcium-modulating signaling protein has two

EF-hands (helix-loop-helix) that contain the calcium-binding site, flanked by

hydrophobic regions at either terminus, and separated by a central hinge region

[2]. Also, the affinity of calprotectin to calcium might be similar to that of

calmodulin [8]. The zinc-binding capacity of calprotectin is not affected by

calcium binding, because both chains of calprotectin contain distinct motifs

(HEXXH motif) for binding to zinc. It was reported that the zinc-binding

capacity of calprotectin was higher than that of other S100 proteins [3,9].

Several reports indicate that calprotectin has antimicrobial and

apoptosis-inducing activities that are reversed by the addition of zinc [1012]. Therefore,

zinc might be a negative regulator, restricting the systemic cytotoxic effects

of calprotectin, especially against normal cells. Zinc, as a ligand that

modifies the function of calprotectin, might be an important target in the

regulation of inflammatory reactions and might be an important factor that

prevents tissue destruction where the concentration of calprotectin is

dramatically increased in local inflammatory sites [13]. Calprotectin inhibits

the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) by sequestration of zinc. MMPs

constitute a family of zinc-dependent enzymes with important roles in many

normal biological processes, including wound healing, and pathological

processes such as inflammation, cancer, and tissue destruction [14].A previous study showed that calprotectin has a growth inhibitory

effect on normal fibroblasts that regulate the repair of wound sites through

cell growth and production of the material covering the intracellular matrix

[11]. Calprotectin also binds to polyunsaturated fatty acids such as

arachidonic acid in a calcium-dependent manner and probably has an important

role in eicosanoid metabolism [15,16]. Therefore, this important calcium signal-inducing protein with

pleiotropic function is a novel inflammatory mediator and it seems to be a

novel player in wound repair [6,17].Conformational changes occurring after calcium binding have been

shown for a number of S100 proteins [18]. Nuclear magnetic resonance

spectroscopy analysis revealed that calcium binding to the calprotectin

heterodimer results in structural changes in the linker helix and second

calcium binding loop regions [6,19]. These conformational changes lead to the

exposure of the hydrophobic surface after calcium binding that might allow

interaction with the target protein such as casein kinase, which is inhibited

by calprotectin [20]. Inhibition of such kinase activity could also explain the

cytostatic activity of calprotectin that played toward a variety of cell types

[21]. However, fecal calprotectin has high stability and it has been recently

proposed as a good clinical marker for colonic neoplasm and inflammation, with

high diagnostic accuracy, in lower gastrointestinal tract [22]. The goal of

this study was to investigate the changes in the secondary structures and

conformation of human calprotectin after interaction with calcium and zinc ions

at physiological concentrations, using circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence

spectroscopy. We also aimed to compare the thermal stability of this protein at

physiological pH (pH 7.0) and pH 8.0.

Materials and Methods

Materials

Dithiothreitol (DTT) and Lymphoprep were obtained from Merck

(Darmstadt, Germany) and Amersham (Piscataway, USA), respectively. Fetal calf

serum (FCS) was obtained from the veterinary faculty at the University of

Tehran (Tehran, Iran). RPMI 1640 medium, penicillin, streptomycin, calcium

chloride (CaCl2), zinc chloride (ZnCl2), and

all other reagents were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St Louis, USA) and

were of, at least, analytical grade. All solutions were prepared with

double-distilled water.

Cell line

K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia cells were obtained from the cell bank

of the Pasteur Institute of Iran (Tehran, Iran). These cells were maintained in

RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FCS in a humidified incubator (37 ?C and

5% CO2).K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia cells were obtained from the cell bank

of the Pasteur Institute of Iran (Tehran, Iran). These cells were maintained in

RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FCS in a humidified incubator (37 ?C and

5% CO2).

Neutrophil isolation and

extraction

Fresh human blood was collected randomly from healthy donors into

heparinated plastic bags and isolation of leukocytes was carried out by dextran

sedimentation according to the method of Skoog and Beck [23]. One unit of 500

ml heparinated blood was mixed with 250 ml of 6% dextran T-500. Sedimentation

was allowed to proceed for 45 min at room temperature. The supernatant was

harvested and leukocytes were spun down at 200 g for 20 min at 4 ?C.

Residual red cells were lysed by the addition of ice-cold distilled water to

the sediment and isotonicity was restored after 30 s by the addition of

phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). After washing twice in PBS, granulocytes were

separated from mononuclear cells by loading 3 ml suspension on the top of 6 ml

Lymphoprep, followed by centrifugation at 800 g for 30 min at 20 ?C.    Granulocytes (neutrophils)

were resuspended in PBS containing 0.2 M sucrose, 1mM EDTA, 1mM DTT and 0.5 mM

phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride. The cell suspensions were sonicated five times

for 30 s with a probe-type sonicator (Model MK2-3.75, MSE, France). During this

procedure, the cell container was kept in wet ice. After sonication, the

soluble fraction was separated from cell debris by centrifugation at 12,000 g

for 10 min at 4 ?C and clear supernatant (crude neutrophil extract) was

collected.

Purification of calprotectin

Purification of human calprotectin was carried out as previously

described [24]. Briefly, the crude neutrophil extract was dialyzed against buffer

I (25 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 1 mM EDTA, and 1 mM DTT) then injected onto an anion

exchange column (Q-Sepharose) that was pre-equilibrated with five column

volumes of buffer I at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Bound proteins were eluted from

the column with 00.5 M NaCl gradient in buffer I over 150 min, at 4 ?C. Anion

exchange-eluted fractions were analyzed by tricine-sodium dodecyl

sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE; 15% gel) under reducing

conditions. The growth inhibitory activities of calprotectin-containing

fractions were checked using K562 cells as the target.These fractions were further dialyzed against buffer II (25 mM

sodium acetate, pH 4.5, 1 mM EDTA, and 1 mM DTT), then injected onto a cation

exchange column (SP-Sepharose) that was pre-equilibrated with five column

volumes of buffer II at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Bound proteins were eluted

from the column with 01.0 M NaCl gradient in buffer II over 100 min. At this stage MRP8

and MRP14 appeared to be essentially pure (>98%) by densitometric analysis

of SDS-PAGE gels, visualized by Coomassie Brilliant Blue staining. During the

purification procedure, in spite of extensive dialysis against the buffers that

contained 1mM EDTA, and using inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy, it was

shown that each calprotectin molecule contained two calcium ions, whereas the

content of zinc ions in the protein was negligible. Thus, the experiments were

carried out in the presence of excessive calcium ions. Dialysis was carried out in 1000 Da cut-off dialysis tubing at all

stages. The purified protein was aliquoted and stored at 70 ?C or at 4 ?C

for short term.

Electrophoresis

For tricine-SDS-PAGE, the system described by Sch?gger and von Jagow

[25] was used. Samples were boiled in a sample buffer with mercaptoethanol for

5 min and electrophoresed on polyacrylamide gel (separating gel: 16.5% T, 3% C;

stacking gel: 4% T, 3% C) under 200 V. Protein bands were visualized by

Coomassie Brilliant Blue staining.

Protein assay

The protein concentration was determined using Bradford reagent

(Bio-Rad, South San Francisco, USA) with bovine serum albumin as the standard

[26].

Cell culture

K562 cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium (pH 7.4) with 10% heat-inactivated

FCS, supplemented with 4 mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 mg/ml

streptomycin in a humidified 5% CO2 incubator at 37 ?C.

Harvested cells were seeded onto 96-well plates (2104

cells/ml) and proliferation curves for K562 cells were determined using the

3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.

Cell proliferation assay

The relative cell number was measured by MTT assay as described by

Mossman [27]. MTT was dissolved in PBS to a concentration of 5 mg/ml and the

solution was filtered through a 0.5 mm filter, then stored at 28 ?C for

frequent use. Four hours before the end of incubation, 25 ml MTT solutions

(5 mg/ml) was added to each well containing fresh and cultured medium. The

insoluble formazan produced was dissolved in a solution containing 10% SDS and

50% dimethylformamide (left for 2 h at 37 ?C in the dark) and the optical

density (OD) was read against a reagent blank with a multi-well scanning

spectrophotometer (Multiskan, Helsinki, Finland) at 540 nm. The OD value of

experimental groups was divided by the OD value of untreated control groups and

presented as a percentage of the control groups (as 100%).

CD spectroscopy

The far ultraviolet (UV) region (180250 nm) that corresponds to

peptide bond absorption [28] was analyzed by a 215 AVIV spectropolarimeter

(AVIV, Lakewood, USA) to give the content of regular secondary structures in

human calprotectin.Far UV-CD spectra were taken at a protein concentration of 0.2 mg/ml

with 1 mm path length quartz cuvette. Protein solutions were prepared in 10 mM

phosphate buffer at pH 7.0. The protein solutions were also incubated with

calcium chloride (1 mM) and zinc chloride (10 mM) for at least 15 min to

obtain the spectra of calcium- and zinc-incubated proteins. All spectra were

collected from 200 to 260 nm and the background was corrected against the

buffer blank. The results were expressed as molar ellipticity (deg?cm2/dmol) considering a mean residues number of 207 and an average

molecular weight of 25 kDa for human calprotectin [6]. The molar ellipticity

was determined as [q]l=[100? (MRW)?qobs/(c?l)], where qobs is the observed ellipticity

in degrees at a given wavelength, c is the protein concentration in

mg/ml and l is the length of the light path in cm.

Fluorescence spectroscopy

Intrinsic fluorescence was measured by exciting the protein solution

(50 mg/ml) with 1 cm path length cell at 280 nm in 10 mM phosphate buffer

at pH 7.0 and emission spectra were recorded in the wavelength range of 300450 nm at 25 ?C.

Fluorescence measurements were carried out on an RF-5000 spectrofluorometer

(Shimadzu, Tokyo, Japan) equipped with a 150 W xenon lamp and a DR-3 data

recorder, and the excitation and emission slits were set at 5 and 10 nm,

respectively.

Thermal denaturation analysis

of human calprotectin

Thermal denaturation of human calprotectin (0.2 mg/ml) was carried

out by following the absorbance at 280 nm, using a Cary spectrophotometer

(Varian, Salt Lake, Australia). Before proceeding with the thermal denaturation

experiments, the protein samples were dialyzed against Tris buffer (25 mM) at

pH 7.0 and 8.0.

Statistical analysis

Results were analyzed for statistical significance using a

two-tailed Student’s t-test. Changes were considered significant at P<0.05.

Results

Cell death-inducing assay of

human calprotectin

In order to examine the cell death-inducing activity of

calprotectin, various concentrations of the purified protein were used to

culture tumor cell line K562 for 24 and 36 h. As shown in Fig. 1, the

cell growth was significantly inhibited by all treatments, indicating a dose-

and time-dependent suppression of growth of the K562 leukemia cell line.

Treatment of this cell line with human calprotectin at concentrations of 50 mg/ml or above

led to a marked decrease of cell proliferation as determined by MTT assay (Fig.

1). Our study also showed that the growth inhibitory effect of 100 mg/ml human

calprotectin was reversed by the coexistence of 10 mM zinc, indicating that the

cytostatic effect of the purified sample was due to calprotectin (data not

shown).

Far UV-CD and fluorescence

studies of human calprotectin

CD has been proven to be an ideal technique for monitoring the

transitional switch between regular secondary structures in proteins, which can

occur as a result of changes in experimental parameters such as binding of

ligands [28]. The far UV-CD spectra characterize the secondary structures of

proteins due to the peptide bond absorption, and changes in this spectra

usually reflect the major backbone changes in proteins [28,29]. As shown in Fig. 2 and Table 1, the far UV-CD spectra

of the intact protein indicate a high degree of a-helix (approximately

49.0%), which is the characteristic of EF-hand proteins [7,19]. Far UV-CD

analysis of this protein in the presence of 10 mM zinc and 1 mM calcium

showed significant changes in the secondary structures (Fig. 2 and Table

1). In the presence of 1 mM calcium and 10 mM zinc (approximate

physiological concentrations of both ions), a reduction in a-helix content

and an increase in b– and other structures of human calprotectin were seen (Fig. 2

and Table 1). Fluorescence spectroscopy is a useful technique to study the

structure, dynamics, and binding properties of protein molecules in solution.

Conformational changes within protein molecules after binding of ligands can be

monitored by fluorometric measurements. The fluorescent properties of proteins

depend mainly on the presence of aromatic amino acids. There are several

aromatic residues present in each subunit of human calprotectin (Trp54, Tyr16, Tyr19, Tyr30, and Tyr54 in MRP8, and Trp88 and Tyr22 in MRP14) [2,30]. When compared with the intact protein, in the

presence of zinc (10 mM), significant reductions in both fluorescence intensity and

fluorescence maximum of human calprotectin were seen (Fig. 3), reflecting

a conformational change within the protein or quenching of fluorescence

emission of the aromatic residues. Decrease of the fluorescence intensity of

human calprotectin in the presence of zinc might indicate the exposure of

aromatic residues to the solvent. In contrast, in the presence of 1 mM calcium,

a significant decrease in fluorescence intensity of the protein was seen,

accompanied by a strong blue shift. This blue shift is typical for aromatic

residues moving into a less hydrophobic environment. Therefore, the emission

spectra of human calprotectin in the presence of calcium suggest a change in

tertiary (or quaternary) structure and solvent exposure of hydrophobic groups

of the protein.

Comparison between thermal stability

of human calprotectin at different pH values

Previous studies revealed that calprotectin in stool, at room

temperature, was stable for at least 3 days [22]. Fecal calprotectin correlates

closely with colonic inflammation and it has recently been proposed as a good

clinical marker of colonic neoplasm and inflammation with high diagnostic

accuracy [22]. The clinical usefulness of calprotectin as an inflammatory

marker led us to investigate thermal stability of human protein at

physiological pH (pH 7.0) and at a pH near to that of the intestine (pH 8.0). Fig.

4 shows the absorption profiles of the protein at 280 nm versus temperature

at pH 7.0 and 8.0. Determination of the Gibbs free energy of denaturation (DG), as a criterion of conformational stability of a globular protein,

is based on the theory of two states as follows:

Native (N)  Denatured (D)

This theory was developed by Pace et al. [3133]. The process

was described as a single denaturant-dependent step according to the two-step theory

[32]. The denaturation process can be monitored based on the change in the

absorbance at 280 nm. Then the denatured fraction of the protein (Fd) as well as the equilibrium constant of the process (K) can

be calculated using Equations 1 and 2, respectively:

Fd=(YNYobs)(YN YD)1                                                                                            1

K=Fd(1?d)1=(YN?obs)(Yobs?D)1                                                           2

where Yobs is the observed variable parameter (e.g.,

absorbance value) and YN and YD are the

values of Y characteristics of a fully native and denatured conformation,

respectively. Then the Gibbs free energy change (DG) can be obtained by Equation

3:

DG=?TlnK   3

where R is the universal gas constant and T is the

absolute temperature. By plotting DG versus

temperature, the protein stability at any temperature, for example, at room temperature

of 25 ?C (DG298), can be obtained [34]. Fig. 5 shows

the free energy changes versus temperature at both pH 7.0 and 8.0. The

thermodynamics parameters of thermal denaturation processes of human

calprotectin are calculated at 25 ?C and 37 ?C and summarized in Table 2.

Our results indicate that an increase in pH from 7.0 to 8.0 markedly increases

the thermal stability of human calprotectin at both 25 ?C and 37 ?C.

Discussion

As calprotectin concentrations in serum and local body fluid were reported

to increase in various inflammatory diseases [17,35], our observations allow us

to speculate that extracellular calprotectin in inflammatory sites might

negatively influence the growth or survival state of other cells. It was

reported that the synovial fluid concentration of calprotectin in some patients

was higher than 100 mg/ml [35]. This concentration seems to be adequate for calprotectin

to induce cell death, which might lead to tissue destruction in joints. High

concentrations of calprotectin in local inflammatory sites might cause a delay

in tissue repair and a deleterious effect on the inflamed tissues. When the

local concentration of calprotectin is relatively high, neutralization of cell

death-inducing activity of calprotectin by zinc, especially against normal

fibroblasts, might be important in wound healing and, in the case of other

cells, probably prevents tissue destruction. Zinc concentration in healthy

human subjects is approximately 15 mM. More than half of serum zinc binds with

albumin and amino acids and it is thought to be exchangeable with other ligands

[36]. As 10 mM zinc is capable of neutralizing 100 mg/ml calprotectin, the

systemic blood flow is an inhibitory milieu for the calprotectin to exert cell

death-inducing activity against normal cells. However, it was reported that

MMPs, a family of zinc-dependent enzymes that are important in wound healing,

cancer, and tissue destruction, can be inhibited by calprotectin through

sequestration of zinc [14]. Hence, calprotectin seems to be a novel player in

cancer, inflammation, and wound repair. Zinc, as a ligand that modifies the

function of calprotectin, might be an important goal in the regulation of

inflammatory reactions, wound healing, and cancer. The cell growth inhibitory

activity of calprotectin has a zinc-reversible nature, and there are many

reports that confirm this possibility that calprotectin can deprive nutrient

zinc by chelating action from the medium to induce cell death [1012]. Calcium,

in contrast, was reported to have a significant role in the stability and

aggregation of calprotectin [37,38]. In recent years there has been

considerable interest in the ability of certain proteins to interconvert

between different forms of secondary structures. Transition from a-helix to b-structure

appears to be physiologically important. It has been reported that the

conformational switch from the soluble a-helix to b-sheet leads to

formation of amyloid structures [39,40]. The a-helix to b-sheet

conformational transition has been shown successfully in Alzheimer’s AB peptide

[39,40]. Those have also been found to occur in many other instances such as

transmission of the conformational changes in insulin [26], the conformational

switch of the prion protein [41], modulation of inhibitory activity of

plasminogen activators, and the activation of elongation factor Tu by a

conformational switch [35]. It is now believed that the ability to form amyloid

structures is not an unusual feature of the small number of proteins associated

with amyloid diseases but is instead a general property of the polypeptide

chain [42]. The larger subunit of calprotectin (MRP14) was found to be

expressed in brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer’s disease [39]. In a

previous study we showed that calcium at higher concentrations made

calprotectin prone to aggregation [38]. Even though calcium and zinc did not noticeably affect the

transition from a-helix to b-structures in human calprotectin, it can be suggested that

elevation of the calprotectin subunit in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients

might be associated with the pathology of this disease, especially when

environmental conditions make the protein prone to aggregation. The changes in the structure and movement of aromatic residues to

the protein surface after calcium binding might be important in some biological

functions of the protein, such as inhibition of casein kinase and even the cell

death-inducing activity of this protein [41]. The calprotectin heterodimer, but

not the single subunit, has high calcium-dependent affinity for arachidonic

acid that is reversed by the addition of zinc [43]. The docking of two subunits

during calcium binding probably creates an asymmetric hydrophobic fatty acid

binding site that locates at the interface between the subunits [15,16].

Fluorescence measurements gave evidence that zinc induced different

conformational changes, thereby affecting calcium-induced formation of the

amino acid-binding pocket with the protein complex. Movement of aromatic

residues from a more hydrophobic environment to the surface of the protein

after interaction with calcium is in accordance with the propensity of calcium

to increase surface hydrophobicity and the propensity of the protein for

aggregation.

Conclusions

The changes in secondary and tertiary structures of human

calprotectin after calcium and zinc binding probably influenced the biological

functions of this protein. The marked elevation in thermal stability of human

calprotectin when the pH level was increased from 7.0 to 8.0 showed a significant

role for pH in the stability of calprotectin in the gut, where it was already

seen to have fair stability and proposed to be a useful clinical marker in the

diagnosis of inflammatory conditions of the digestive tract.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Tehran Blood

Transfusion Center (Tehran, Iran) for provision of the blood used in this

experiment.

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