Reconsideration of Serum Ti(IV) Transport:  Albumin and Transferrin Trafficking of Ti(IV) and Its Complexes

The trafficking of titanium(IV) by human serum transferrin (HsTf) has been implicated in the physiology of this hydrolysis-prone metal. The current work broadens to include the further interactions of Ti(IV) in serum that bear on this model. Ti2HsTf (2 equiv) binds the transferrin receptor TfR1 with Kd1 = 6.3 +/- 0.4 nM and Kd2 = 410 +/- 150 nM, values that are the tightest yet measured for a metal other than iron but weaker than the corresponding ones for Fe2HsTf due to both slightly slower on rates and slightly faster off rates. Comparing the affinities of metals for HsTf with the affinities of the resulting M2HsTf species for TfR1, we speculate that the formation of an M2HsTf complex of high affinity may predict a lobe-closed conformation that leads to a favorable interaction with TfR1. Human serum albumin (HSA), an important serum competitor for metal binding, can bind up to 20 equiv of Ti(IV) supplied in several forms. With some ligands, Ti(IV) may bind to the N-terminal metal binding site of albumin, forming a ternary complex. However, the dominant type of HSA binding is via Ti(IV) in complex form, probably at surface sites. Notably, HSA greatly stabilizes the titanocene moiety of the drug candidate Cp2TiCl2 with respect to hydrolysis and precipitation. HSA binds Ti(IV) citrate supplied as a hydrolyzed or unhydrolyzed source, with 1 equiv of citrate remaining bound. Titanium(IV) monocitrate neither competes with the binding of reporter molecules known to dock at canonical drug sites I or II nor binds at the N-terminus. HsTf outcompetes HSA for soluble Ti(IV) in a direct competition, but once bound to albumin, the transfer of Ti(IV) from HSA to HsTf is quite slow. Each of these findings has implications for the metabolism of Ti(IV) in human serum.