Synthesis and characterization of 2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid albumin.

Autoimmune patients treated with ifosfamide (CAS 3778-73-2) and mesna (2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid, CAS 3375-50-6) in some cases suffered from severe allergic reactions that were proposed to be due to mesna linked to serum albumin by a disulfide bond. To prove the existence of the hypothetic mesna albumin adduct in vivo it was synthesized: The free thiol group of albumin (molecular mass determined by MALDI spectroscopy: 67009 Da) was converted to S-phenylsulfonyl albumin and reacted with mesna to albumin mesna (molecular mass: 67159 Da). In an alternative synthesis albumin was incubated with mesna at pH 8, 40 degrees C (molecular mass of the adduct: 67166 Da).