Polymer composition for delivering substances in living organisms
First Claim
1. A composition for transporting a compound from a low-pH environment across a lipid layer to a higher-pH aqueous compartment, said composition comprising(a) a polypeptide containing two or more pairs of side chain carboxyl groups, where(i) the carboxyl groups of a pair are separated by zero, two or three amino acids,(ii) the polypeptide contains, at at least one terminus, an initiator sequence consisting of 5-10 amino acid residues, wherein the ratio of non-acid side chain, lipophilic residues to acid side chain residues is greater than 1, to facilitate entry of said terminus into the lipid layer,(iii) the sequence of the balance of the polypeptide is selected from (EXXXE)n, (XEXXE)n, and (EXEEXEXX)n, where E represents Glu or Asp, X represents a non-acid side chain amino acid, and n is an integer effective to give a total polypeptide length of up to 100 amino acid residues;
- whereby the polypeptide exhibits solubility in both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments by undergoing a reversible transition between a lipophilic form, effective to partition from said low-pH environment into the lipid layer, and a hydrophilic form, effective to partition preferentially from the lipid layer into the higher-pH aqueous compartment, and is able to traverse the lipid layer from the low-pH environment to the higher-pH compartment, and(b) the compound to be transported, covalently attached to the polypeptide.
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Abstract
Polymeric compositions effective for delivering compounds in living organisms are described. The compositions include polypeptides which exhibit solubility in both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments by undergoing a reversible pH-dependent transition from a low-pH, lipophilic form to a high-pH, hydrophilic form.
150 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A composition for transporting a compound from a low-pH environment across a lipid layer to a higher-pH aqueous compartment, said composition comprising
(a) a polypeptide containing two or more pairs of side chain carboxyl groups, where (i) the carboxyl groups of a pair are separated by zero, two or three amino acids, (ii) the polypeptide contains, at at least one terminus, an initiator sequence consisting of 5-10 amino acid residues, wherein the ratio of non-acid side chain, lipophilic residues to acid side chain residues is greater than 1, to facilitate entry of said terminus into the lipid layer, (iii) the sequence of the balance of the polypeptide is selected from (EXXXE)n, (XEXXE)n, and (EXEEXEXX)n, where E represents Glu or Asp, X represents a non-acid side chain amino acid, and n is an integer effective to give a total polypeptide length of up to 100 amino acid residues; -
whereby the polypeptide exhibits solubility in both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments by undergoing a reversible transition between a lipophilic form, effective to partition from said low-pH environment into the lipid layer, and a hydrophilic form, effective to partition preferentially from the lipid layer into the higher-pH aqueous compartment, and is able to traverse the lipid layer from the low-pH environment to the higher-pH compartment, and (b) the compound to be transported, covalently attached to the polypeptide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A composition for transporting a compound from a low-pH environment across a lipid layer to a higher-pH aqueous compartment, said composition comprising
(a) a polypeptide containing two or more pairs of side chain carboxyl groups, where (i) the carboxyl groups of a pair are separated by zero, two or three amino acids, (ii) the polypeptide has a length of between about 8 and about 100 amino acid residues, (iii) the polypeptide contains greater than 50% glutamic acid residues, and (iv) the polypeptide contains, at at least one terminus, an initiator polypeptide sequence consisting of 5-10 amino acid residues, wherein the ratio of non-acid side chain, lipophilic residues to acid side chain residues is greater than 1, which sequence is effective to form an alpha helix at a pH higher than the pH at which a same-length polyglutamic acid forms an alpha helix, to facilitate entry of said terminus into the lipid layer, whereby the polypeptide exhibits solubility in both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments by undergoing a reversible transition between a lipophilic form, effective to partition from said low-pH environment into the lipid layer, and a hydrophilic form, effective to partition preferentially from the lipid layer into the higher-pH aqueous compartment, and is able to traverse the lipid layer from the low-pH environment to the higher-pH compartment, and (b) the compound to be transported, covalently attached to the polypeptide.
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15. A method of facilitating the transport of a compound from a low-pH environment across a lipid layer to a higher-pH aqueous compartment, comprising
(a) forming a polypeptide-compound conjugate by coupling the compound covalently to a polypeptide containing two or more pairs of side chain carboxyl groups, where (i) the carboxyl groups of a pair are separated by zero, two or three amino acids, (ii) the polypeptide contains, at at least one terminus, an initiator sequence consisting of 5-10 amino acid residues, wherein the ratio of non-acid side chain, lipophilic residues to acid side chain residues is greater than 1, to facilitate entry of said terminus into the lipid layer, (iii) the sequence of the balance of the polypeptide is selected from (EXXXE)n, (XEXXE)n, and (EXEEXEXX)n, where E represents Glu or Asp, X represents a non-acid side chain amino acid, and n is an integer effective to give a total polypeptide length of up to 100 amino acid residues; -
whereby the polypeptide exhibits solubility in both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments by undergoing a reversible transition between a lipophilic form, effective to partition from said low-pH environment into the lipid layer, and a hydrophilic form, effective to partition preferentially from the lipid layer into the higher-pH aqueous compartment; and (b) introducing the polypeptide-compound conjugate to the low-pH environment, whereby the polypeptide-compound conjugate is able to traverse the lipid layer from the low-pH environment to the higher-pH compartment. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A method for facilitating the transport of a compound from a low-pH environment across a lipid layer to a higher-pH aqueous compartment, said composition comprising
(a) forming a polypeptide-compound conjugate by coupling the compound covalently to a polypeptide containing two or more pairs of side chain carboxyl groups, where (i) the carboxyl groups of a pair are separated by zero, two or three amino acids, (ii) the polypeptide has a length of between about 8 and about 100 amino acid residues, (iii) the polypeptide contains greater than 50% glutamic acid residues, and (iv) the polypeptide contains, at at least one terminus, an initiator polypeptide sequence consisting of 5-10 amino acid residues, wherein the ratio of non-acid side chain, lipophilic residues to acid side chain residues is greater than 1, which sequence is effective to form an alpha helix at a pH higher than the pH at which a same-length polyglutamic acid forms an alpha helix, to facilitate entry of said terminus into the lipid layer, whereby the polypeptide exhibits solubility in both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments by undergoing a reversible transition between a lipophilic form, effective to partition from said low-pH environment into the lipid layer, and a hydrophilic form, effective to partition preferentially from the lipid layer into the higher-pH aqueous compartment, and is able to traverse the lipid layer from the low-pH environment to the higher-pH compartment; - and
(b) introducing the polypeptide-compound conjugate to the low-pH environment, whereby the polypeptide-compound conjugate is able to traverse the lipid layer from the low-pH environment to the higher-pH compartment. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification