Different kinetic pathways of the binding of two biphenyl analogues of colchicine to tubulin.

The kinetics of the interaction of tubulin with two biphenyl analogues of colchicine were measured by fluorescence stopped flow. The ligands were 2,3,4-trimethoxy-4'-carbomethoxy-1,1'-biphenyl (TCB) and 2,3,4-trimethoxy-4'-acetyl-1,1'-biphenyl (TKB). The binding of both analogues is accompanied by a fluorescence increase with monophasic kinetics, which indicates that these drugs, unlike colchicine, do not discriminate between the isoforms of tubulin. The observed pseudo-first-order rate constant increases in a nonlinear way with the drug concentration, indicating that the binding of the biphenyl analogues to tubulin occurs, like colchicine, in two steps: a fast reversible equilibrium followed by an isomerization of the initial complex. Kinetic analysis shows that TCB and TKB exhibit differences in their K1 values. At 25 degrees C, these are 114,000 +/- 15,000 M(-1) for TCB and 8,300 +/- 900 M(-1) for TKB. Both molecules show a much higher affinity than colchicine for the initial binding site. Also at 25 degrees C, the k2 value is 0.66 +/- 0.04 s(-1) for TCB and 3.0 +/- 0.2 s(-1) for TKB. From the temperature dependence, a reaction enthalpy change for the initial binding (deltaH(zero)1) of 44 +/- 9 kJ x mol(-1) (TCB) and -40 +/- 14 kJ x mol(-1) (TKB) and an activation energy for the second forward step of 64 +/- 2 kJ x mol(-1) (TCB) and 101 +/- 10 kJ x mol(-1) (TKB) were calculated. The dissociation kinetics were studied by displacement experiments, in which podophyllotoxin was used as a displacing ligand. The rate constant for the second step in the off direction (k(-2)) is 0.25 +/- 0.05 s(-1) for TCB and 0.093 +/- 0.009 s(-1) for TKB at 25 degrees C. The activation energies for the backward isomerization of the complexes were found to be 86 +/- 20 kJ x mol(-1) (TCB) and 79 +/- 5 kJ x mol(-1) (TKB). Combination of these results with the kinetic parameters for association gives a full characterization of the enthalpy pathway for the binding of TCB and TKB. The pathway of TCB binding is shown to differ considerably from that of TKB binding. Since their structural difference is located in ring C', this result points to their use of the ring C' in the first binding step. The competitiveness of the binding of TCB and TKB with those of podophyllotoxin, MTC, and MDL 27048 indicates that the two biphenyls interact as well with the trimethoxyphenyl-specific subsite.