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ABSTRACT: Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is a man-made fluorosurfactant and globally persistent organic pollutant. PFOS is mainly distributed in blood with a long half-life for elimination. PFOS was found mainly bound to human serum albumin (HSA) in plasma, the most abundant protein in human blood plasma, which transports a variety of endogenous and exogenous ligands. However, the structural basis of such binding remains unclear. Here, we report the crystal structure of the HSA-PFOS complex and show that PFOS binds to HSA at a molar ratio of 2:1. In addition, PFOS binding renders the HSA structure more compact. Our results provide a structural mechanism to understand the retention of surfactants in human serum.
Chemical Research in Toxicology 04/2012; 25(5):990-2. · 3.78 Impact Factor
