Trehalose Glycopolymer Enhances Both Solution Stability and Pharmacokinetics of a Therapeutic Protein

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-3-2017

Abstract

Biocompatible polymers such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) have been successfully conjugated to therapeutic proteins to enhance their pharmacokinetics. However, many of these polymers, including PEG, only improve the in vivo lifetimes and do not protect proteins against inactivation during storage and transportation. Herein, we report a polymer with trehalose side chains (PolyProtek) that is capable of improving both the external stability and the in vivo plasma half-life of a therapeutic protein. Insulin was employed as a model biologic, and high performance liquid chromatography and dynamic light scattering confirmed that addition of trehalose glycopolymer as an excipient or covalent conjugation prevented thermal or agitation-induced aggregation of insulin. The insulin-trehalose glycopolymer conjugate also showed significantly prolonged plasma circulation time in mice, similar to the analogous insulin-PEG conjugate. The insulin-trehalose glycopolymer conjugate was active as tested by insulin tolerance tests in mice and retained bioactivity even after exposure to high temperatures. The trehalose glycopolymer was shown to be non-toxic to mice up to at least 1.6 mg/kg dosage. These results together suggest that the trehalose glycopolymer should be further explored as an alternative to PEG for long circulating protein therapeutics.

Comments

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Bioconjugate Chemistry, volume 28, in 2017 following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.6b00659.

Copyright

American Chemical Society

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS