Study on the stereoselective binding of cytosine nucleoside enantiomers to human serum albumin

Nucleoside drugs are known for their remarkable anticancer and antiviral properties. The development of nucleoside drugs has attracted much attention and generated a great deal of research interest. β-L-cytidine and β-D-cytidine are a pair of cytosine nucleoside enantiomers. In this work, the interactions between cytosine nucleoside enantiomers and human serum albumin were studied by ultraviolet-visible spectra, fluorescence spectrum and circular dichroism spectrum under simulated human physiological environment. The data of fluorescence spectra were corrected for the inner-filter effect to improve accuracy. Stern-Volmer quenching constants and binding constants in addition to thermodynamic parameters have been analyzed, which established that complexes formation have taken place via static quenching mechanism, and that hydrophobic force involved in these interactions. CD spectrum revealed that on addition of cytosine nucleoside enantiomers, the α-helix% of HSA increased slightly. What's more, molecular modeling method indicated that cytosine nucleoside enantiomers prefer binding at the IIIA site of HSA.