Synthesis and evaluation of water-soluble polyethylene glycol-paclitaxel conjugate as a paclitaxel prodrug

Anticancer Drugs. 1996 Aug;7(6):642-8. doi: 10.1097/00001813-199608000-00004.

Abstract

Water-soluble paclitaxel may cause less side effects and be less costly to administer in comparison to a taxol formulation using a cremophor EL/alcohol vehicle. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG; MW 5000) was conjugated to the 2' position of paclitaxel through a spacer succinyl group. PEG-paclitaxel as a non-ionic paclitaxel prodrug was highly water soluble (> 20 mg equiv. paclitaxel/ml). The release of paclitaxel from phosphate-buffered solution was pH dependent. The half-life of PEG-paclitaxel was 7.6, 54 and 311 min at pH 9.0, 7.4 and 6.0, respectively. PEG-paclitaxel inhibited the growth of B16 melanoma cells to an extent similar to that of paclitaxel. In MCA-4 mammary tumor-bearing mice, a single dose of PEG-paclitaxel (40 mg equiv. paclitaxel/kg body weight) significantly delayed tumor growth. The average number of days for the tumor to reach 12 from 8 mm in diameter increased from 6.5 days for control animals to 8.5 days for PEG-paclitaxel-treated animals and 9.4 days for paclitaxel-treated animals. These studies demonstrated that PEG may be used as an effective solubilizing carrier for paclitaxel.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Female
  • Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / drug therapy*
  • Melanoma / drug therapy*
  • Mice
  • Paclitaxel / chemistry
  • Paclitaxel / therapeutic use*
  • Polyethylene Glycols / chemistry
  • Prodrugs / chemical synthesis
  • Prodrugs / therapeutic use*
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured / drug effects

Substances

  • Prodrugs
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Paclitaxel