Binding to human serum albumin of zidovudine (AZT) and novel AZT derivatives. Experimental and theoretical analyses Original Research Article

This work presents the binding of AZT and nine novel AZT derivatives to human serum albumin (HSA), both defatted (HSAD) and complexed with fatty acids (HSAFA). The bound fractions and binding site were determined by applying an ultrafiltration procedure, with an increased affinity for the majority of these derivatives to HSAD being found with respect to that of AZT, while only one derivative exhibited an increased affinity for HSAFA. By means of computational methods, we observed that specific electrostatic interactions are responsible for the increased affinity for HSAD, while the presence of fatty acids complexed to HSA caused an intense electrostatic repulsion with negatively charged ligands located in Sudlow site I, thus diminishing their bound fractions. A strong relationship between the calculated energetic components and the observed experimental affinity was identified.