Determination of energies and sites of binding of PFOA and PFOS to human serum albumin.

Structure and energies of the binding sites of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) to human serum albumin (HSA) were determined through molecular modeling. The calculations consisted of a compound approach based on docking, followed by molecular dynamics simulations and by the estimation of the free binding energies adopting WHAM-umbrella sampling and semiempirical methodologies. The binding sites so determined are common either to known HSA fatty acids sites or to other HSA sites known to bind to pharmaceutical compounds such as warfarin, thyroxine, indole, and benzodiazepin. Among the PFOA binding sites, five have interaction energies in excess of -6 kcal/mol, which become nine for PFOS. The calculated binding free energy of PFOA to the Trp 214 binding site is the highest among the PFOA complexes, -8.0 kcal/mol, in good agreement with literature experimental data. The PFOS binding site with the highest energy, -8.8 kcal/mol, is located near the Trp 214 binding site, thus partially affecting its activity. The maximum number of ligands that can be bound to HSA is 9 for PFOA and 11 for PFOS. The calculated data were adopted to predict the level of complexation of HSA as a function of the concentration of PFOA and PFOS found in human blood for different levels of exposition. The analysis of the factors contributing to the complex binding energy permitted to outline a set of guidelines for the rational design of alternative fluorinated surfactants with a lower bioaccumulation potential.