CXC and CC chemokines form mixed heterodimers: Association free energies from molecular dynamics simulations and experimental correlations

CXC and CC chemokines are involved in numerous biological processes, and their function in situ may be significantly influenced by heterodimer formation, as was recently reported, for example, for CXC chemokines CXCL4/PF4 and CXCL8/IL8 that interact to form heterodimers that modulate chemotactic and cell proliferation activities. Here we used molecular dynamics simulations to determine relative association free energies (overall average and per residue) for homo- and heterodimer pairs of CXC (CXCL4/PF4, CXCL8/IL8, CXCL1/Gro-α, and CXCL7/NAP-2) and CC (CCL5/RANTES, CCL2/MCP-1, and CCL8/MCP-2) chemokines. Even though structural homology among monomer folds of all CXC and CC chemokines permits heterodimer assembly, our calculated association free energies depend upon the particular pair of chemokines in terms of the net electrostatic and nonelectrostatic forces involved, as well as (for CC/CXC mixed chemokines) the selection of dimer type (CC or CXC). These relative free energies indicate that association of some pairs of chemokines is more favorable than others. Our approach is validated by correlation of calculated and experimentally determined free energies. Results are discussed in terms of CXC and CC chemokine function and have significant biological implications.