Polycarbophil-cysteine conjugates as platforms for oral polypeptide delivery systems

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the potential of polycarbophil-cysteine conjugates as carrier systems for orally administered peptide and protein drugs. Mediated by a carbodiimide, cysteine was covalently attached to polycarbophil. The properties of resulting conjugates, displaying 35-50 microM thiol groups per gram of polymer, to bind polypeptides and to inhibit pancreatic proteases was evaluated in vitro. Results demonstrated that only some polypeptides are immobilized to the polycarbophil-cysteine conjugate. Due to the covalent attachment of cysteine to polycarbophil, the inhibitory effect of the polymer toward carboxypeptidase A (EC 3.4. 17.1) and carboxypeptidase B (EC 3.4.17.2) could be significantly (p < 0.05) improved. As the zinc binding affinity of polycarbophil could be improved by the covalent attachment of cysteine, the raised inhibitory effect seems to be based on the complexation of this divalent cation from the enzyme structure. Whereas the covalent attachment of cysteine on polycarbophil had no influence on the enzymatic activity of trypsin (EC 3.4.21.4) and elastase (EC 3.4.21. 36), the inhibitory effect of the polymer-cysteine conjugate toward chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that of the unmodified polymer. Because of these inhibitory features, polycarbophil-cysteine conjugates seem to be a promising tool in protecting orally administered therapeutic polypeptides, which are not bound to the polymer, from presystemic metabolism in the intestine.