α-Lactalbumin (α-La), together with oleic acid can be converted to a complex, which kills tumor cells selectively. Cytotoxic α-La –oleic acid and α-La –linoleic acid complexes were generated by adding fatty acid to camel holo α-La at 60°C (referred to as La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 state, respectively). Structural properties of these complexes were studied and compared to the camel α-La. The experimental results show that linoleic acid induces α-La partial unfolding but oleic acid does not change the protein structure significantly. Also the stability of La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 toward thermal denaturation was measured. The order of temperature at the transition midpoint is as follows: La-LA-60 < La-OA-60 < α-La. La-OA-60 complex inhibited tubulin polymerization in vitro. Although the structures of La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 were different, these two complexes had similar cytotoxic effect to DU145 human prostate cancer cells. Samples of La-OA-60 that have been renatured after denaturation lost the specific biological activity toward tumor cells.

Key words: α-lactalbumin; Fatty acid; Fluorescence spectroscopy.

This article can be cited as:
M.S. Atri, A.A. Saboury, A.A. Moosavi-Movahedi, B. Goliaei, Y. Sefidbakht, H.H. Alijanvand, A. Sharifzadeh, A. Niasari-Naslaji, Structure and Stability Analysis of Cytotoxic Complex of Camel α-Lactalbumin and Unsaturated Fatty Acids Produced at High Temperature J. Biomol Struct Dyn 28(6), 919-928 (2011).