Chitosan-pentaglycine-phenylboronic acid conjugate: A potential colon-specific platform for calcitonin

Reem Smoum, Abraham Rubinstein*, Morris Srebnik

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Novel drug delivery vehicles based on the biodegradable, mucoadhesive polysaccharide chitosan covalently linked to a boronic acid protease inhibitor have been prepared and characterized. It was anticipated that these conjugates could protect a proteinaceous drug, such as salmon calcitonin, against proteolysis by serine proteases, an obstacle that prevents its oral administration. Specifically, 4-formylphenylboronic acid was linked to chitosan. Three types of conjugates were prepared. In the first, 4-formylphenylboronic acid was directly linked to chitosan. The other two conjugates employed glycylglycine and pentaglycine spacers. Enzyme-inhibition assays toward trypsin and elastase, in the presence of the enzyme chitosanase, demonstrated a strong inhibitory effect for the chitosan-pentaglycine-phenylboronic acid conjugates, while no inhibitory effect could be detected without chitosanase. The chitosan-pentaglycine-phenylboronic acid conjugate with the highest degree of substitution of 4-formyl-phenylboronic acid was able to decrease the salmon calcitonin degradation rate by trypsin. It is concluded that chitosan-pentaglycine-phenylboronic acid conjugates are a potential multifunctional, colon-specific vehicle for orally administered salmon calcitonin.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1000-1007
Number of pages8
JournalBioconjugate Chemistry
Volume17
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Chitosan-pentaglycine-phenylboronic acid conjugate: A potential colon-specific platform for calcitonin'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this