Design, synthesis and analysis of charged RGD derivatives

In the present study, negatively charged N-Biotin-RGD and positively charged C-Biotin-RGD were designed, synthesized, and characterized with docking analysis. The fixation of MDA-MB-231 cells with formalin made their cell surface neutrally charged thus removing the electrostatic interactions between charged biotinylated RGD derivatives and MDA-MB-231 cells. The results of the binding affinity of biotinylated RGD derivatives against MDA-MB-231 cells showed that N-Biotin-RGD had higher binding affinity than C-Biotin-RGD. The cytotoxic effect was analyzed by incubating charged biotinylated RGD derivatives with live MDA-MB-231 cells. MDA-MB-231 cell surface is negatively charged due to high hypersialyliation of polyglycans and Warburg effect. The results of their cytotoxic activities against live MDA-MB-231 cells were found to be electrostatic in nature. C-Biotin-RGD had an attractive interaction with the MDA-MB-231 cell surface resulting in a higher cytotoxic effect. In comparison, N-Biotin-RGD had a repulsive interaction with the MDA-MB-231 cell surface resulting in a lower cytotoxic effect. Hence, positively charged C-Biotin-RGD is a better cytotoxic agent than a negatively charged N-Biotin-RGD against MDA-MB-231 cells.