Suppression of aggregation of human growth hormone by cyclodextrins

Cyclodextrins have been shown to function as aggregation suppressors for a wide range of proteins. We have investigated the interactions between human growth hormone (hGH) and different cyclodextrins at low pH, and find that the suppression of hGH aggregation by CD can be modelled by a simple binding model. NMR studies indicate that (-CD leads to a more unfolded conformation of hGH at low pH and predominantly binds to the aromatic side chains. This suggests that aromatic amino acids are important components of regions of residual structure which may form nuclei for aggregation. (Daniel E. Otzen, Benjamin R. Knudsen, Finn L. Aachmann, Kim L. Larsen, Reinhard Wimmer)