San Juan J.A.Chakarawet K.He Z.Fernandez R.L.Stevenson M.J.Harder N.H.O.Janisse S.E.Wang L.P.Britt R.D.Heffern M.C.Mahidol University2024-02-082024-02-082023-08-02Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol.145 No.30 (2023) , 16726-1673800027863https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/95521Peptide hormones are essential signaling molecules with therapeutic importance. Identifying regulatory factors that drive their activity gives important insight into their mode of action and clinical development. In this work, we demonstrate the combined impact of Cu(II) and the serum protein albumin on the activity of C-peptide, a 31-mer peptide derived from the same prohormone as insulin. C-peptide exhibits beneficial effects, particularly in diabetic patients, but its clinical use has been hampered by a lack of mechanistic understanding. We show that Cu(II) mediates the formation of ternary complexes between albumin and C-peptide and that the resulting species depend on the order of addition. These ternary complexes notably alter peptide activity, showing differences from the peptide or Cu(II)/peptide complexes alone in redox protection as well as in cellular internalization of the peptide. In standard clinical immunoassays for measuring C-peptide levels, the complexes inflate the quantitation of the peptide, suggesting that such adducts may affect biomarker quantitation. Altogether, our work points to the potential relevance of Cu(II)-linked C-peptide/albumin complexes in the peptide’s mechanism of action and application as a biomarker.Chemical EngineeringChemistryBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1021/jacs.3c045992-s2.0-851663919101520512637486968