Rapid analysis of the interactions between drugs and human serum albumin (HSA) using high-performance affinity chromatography (HPAC)

This study used a combination of zonal elution and frontal affinity chromatography on immobilized human serum albumin (HSA) high-performance affinity chromatography (HPAC) column to examine the association constants of various compounds that have been studied by equilibrium dialysis or ultra filtration. A standard plot was generated from retention factors of reference compounds using zonal elution chromatography against association constants of reference compounds using frontal affinity chromatography. The linear relationship was established (r2 = 0.9993) between retention factors and association constants of reference compounds. This standard plot was later used for rapid determination of association constants of various drugs which show low to medium binding affinity to HSA. Association constants of those drugs from this study were compared to that of more generally used methods (i.e., equilibrium dialysis or ultra filtration) from literature and resulted in a relatively high correlation (r2 = 0.945) value. This combination of zonal elution and frontal affinity chromatography method for determining association constants showed several advantages against traditional methods. Depending on drugs of interest, an association constant of drug to HSA can be measured as fast as 1.5 min. Other notable advantages include an ease of automation and its ability to distinguish association constants of chiral compounds at the same time. The same approach could be used for studying interaction of other drugs and proteins and should further improve overall drug screening process.