Docking of glycosaminoglycans to heparin-binding proteins: Validation for aFGF, bFGF, and antithrombin and application to IL-8

Heparin-protein interactions play an important role in many steps of the immune system. Here, we evaluated the search capabilities of three widely used programs-GRID, DOCK, and AutoDock-for heparin binding sites. Because of the weak surface complementarity and the high charge density of the sulfated sugar chain, the docking of heparin to its protein partners presents a challenging task for computational docking. Our protocols were tested on antithrombin and acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor, the only three proteins for which structures of:their complexes with heparin are available. With all;three programs, the heparin binding site for these test cases was determined correctly. We then used these protocols to predict the heparin binding site on Interleukin-8, a chemokine with a central role in the human immune response. The results indicate that His18, Lys20, Arg60, Lys64, and Arg68 in interleukin-8 bind to heparin.