a MTA-HUN-REN TTK Lendület "Momentum" Peptide-Based Vaccines Research Group, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary;
b Laboratory of Interfaces and Nanostructures, Institute of Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary;
c HUN-REN TTK Biological Nanochemistry Research Group, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary;
d Institute of Medical Microbiology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, H-1085, Hungary;
e Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, H-1111, Hungary
Funds:
The authors acknowledge the support of the Lendü
let (Momentum) Programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Grant No.: LP2021-28), the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary, financed under the 2018-1.2.1-NKP funding scheme (Project No.: 2018-1.2.1-NKP-2018-00005), and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, NKFIH, Hungary (Grant Nos.: K131594, 2020-1-1-2-PIACI-KFI_2020-00021, and TKP2021-EGA-31).
The aim of the research is to increase the applicability of lipopeptides as drugs. To this end, non-ionic triblock copolymers, namely poloxamers, were applied. The physicochemical properties of poloxamers vary depending on the length of the blocks, so different types were experimented with. Systems containing different additives were systematically investigated, and the change in the critical micelle concentration of the poloxamers at 25 and 37 ℃ in different media was assessed. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the different poloxamer micelles on three different cell lines was evaluated, and based on the results, Plur104, Plur123, and Plur127 were selected. Fatty acid elongated derivatives of a short antibacterial peptide (pL1), a medium-sized anticancer peptide (pCM15), and a branched-chain vaccine antigen (pATIPC) were used as lipopeptide models, and their formulations with the selected poloxamers were investigated. The solubility and homogeneity of the lipopeptides were significantly increased, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed the formation of small particles of around 20 nm, which were well reproducible and storable. Similar homogenous micelle formation was observed after freeze-drying and reconstitution. The pL1 lipopeptide, formulated with the selected poloxamers, exhibited enhanced antibacterial activity with significantly reduced haemolytic side effects. The pCM15 peptide, when incorporated into poloxamer micelles, showed significantly enhanced cytotoxicity against tumor cells. Additionally, the internalization rate of pATIPC peptide formulated with poloxamers by antigen-presenting model cells exceeded that of the unformulated peptide. Our results demonstrate the potential of poloxamers as promising tools for the formulation of lipopeptides and for the optimization of their selectivity.