Trehalose Glycopolymers as Excipients for Protein
Stabilization
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Abstract
Herein,
the synthesis of four different trehalose glycopolymers
and investigation of their ability to stabilize proteins to heat and
lyophilization stress are described. The disaccharide, α,α-trehalose,
was modified with a styrenyl acetal, methacrylate acetal, styrenyl
ether, or methacrylate moiety resulting in four different monomers.
These monomers were then separately polymerized using free radical
polymerization with azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator
to synthesize the glycopolymers. Horseradish peroxidase and glucose
oxidase were incubated at 70 and 50 °C, respectively, and β-galactosidase
was lyophilized multiple times in the presence of various ratios of
the polymers or trehalose. The protein activities were subsequently
tested and found to be significantly higher when the polymers were
present during the stress compared to no additive and to equivalent
amounts of trehalose. Different molecular weights (10 kDa, 20 kDa,
and 40 kDa) were tested, and all were equivalent in their stabilization
ability. However, some subtle differences were observed regarding
stabilization ability between the different polymer samples, depending
on the stress. Small molecules such as benzyl ether trehalose were
not better stabilizers than trehalose, and the trehalose monomer decreased
protein activity, suggesting that hydrophobized trehalose was not
sufficient and that the polymeric structure was required. In addition,
cytotoxicity studies with NIH 3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblast cells,
RAW 264.7 murine macrophages, human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), and
human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were conducted with
polymer concentrations up to 8 mg/mL. The data showed that all four
polymers were noncytotoxic for all tested concentrations. The results
together suggest that trehalose glycopolymers are promising as additives
to protect proteins from a variety of stressors