NMR chemical shift study of the interaction of selected peptides with liposomal and micellar models of apoptotic cells.

The interaction between two peptides previously selected by phage display to target apoptotic cells and phospholipidic models of these cells (liposomes or micelles made of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) and/or 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine (DPPS, phosphatidylserine analog) was studied by the simple analysis of the changes induced on the proton NMR chemical shifts of the peptides. Our approach which does not need healthy and/or apoptotic cells for assessing the affinity of different peptides is fast and efficient and requires small amounts of peptide to determine the association constant, the interacting protons, and the number of interaction sites. The micellar model gave more reliable results than the liposomal one. The preferential interaction of the peptide with DPPS was evidenced by the change of the chemical shifts of specific amino acids of the peptides. Our micellar model is thus well suited to mimic apoptotic cells.