UW Chemical Engineers Develop a New Polymer to Boost Protein-based Therapies
December 30, 2011
Figure 1: The effect of polymer conjugation on peptide therapeutics. Enlarge image »
ENZYME: ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MARTIN MCCARTHY
UW chemical engineering professor Shaoyi Jiang and PhD student Andrew Keefe have developed a polymer that increases the effectiveness of protein therapeutics much more than current methods. Their results are published in a December 2011 article in Nature Chemistry.
Protein therapeutics (such as interferon) are highly disease-specific and well tolerated by the body. They have great potential to manage and cure diseases. But there are limitations associated with proteins: they're not very stable in the body and they don't dissolve well in water. A standard technique uses polyethylene glycol to overcome these limitations and keep the proteins circulating longer, but a steep price is paid in the proteins’ biological activity. Jiang and Keefe's zwitterionic polymer provides the same benefits without reducing biological activity.
See a detailed news item summarizing the findings and their context, as well as access to the text of the article, at nature.com/nchem (subscription or payment may be required).