Characterization of the binding of an anticancer drug, lapatinib to human serum albumin

• Intermediate binding affinity between LAP and HSA
• Involvement of hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding in the LAP–HSA complex formation
• Increased thermal stability of HSA upon LAP binding
• Binding site III of HSA, located in subdomain IB as the preferred binding site for LAP

Interaction of a promising anticancer drug, lapatinib (LAP) with the major transport protein in human blood circulation, human serum albumin (HSA) was investigated using fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy as well as molecular docking analysis. LAP–HSA complex formation was evident from the involvement of static quenching mechanism, as revealed by the fluorescence quenching data analysis. The binding constant, Ka value in the range of 1.49–1.01 × 105 M− 1, obtained at three different temperatures was suggestive of the intermediate binding affinity between LAP and HSA. Thermodynamic analysis of the binding data (∆H = − 9.75 kJ mol− 1 and ∆S = + 65.21 J mol− 1 K− 1) suggested involvement of both hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding in LAP–HSA interaction, which were in line with the molecular docking results. LAP binding to HSA led to the secondary and the tertiary structural alterations in the protein as evident from the far-UV and the near-UV CD spectral analysis, respectively. Microenvironmental perturbation around Trp and Tyr residues in HSA upon LAP binding was confirmed from the three-dimensional fluorescence spectral results. LAP binding to HSA improved the thermal stability of the protein. LAP was found to bind preferentially to the site III in subdomain IB on HSA, as probed by the competitive drug displacement results and supported by the molecular docking results. The effect of metal ions on the binding constant between LAP and HSA was also investigated and the results showed a decrease in the binding constant in the presence of these metal ions.

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