Upregulation of Key Molecules for Targeted Imaging and Therapy.

Unlabelled: Targeted diagnosis and therapy enable precise tumor detection and treatment. Successful examples for precise tumor targeting are diagnostic and therapeutic radioligands. However, patients with tumors expressing low levels of the relevant molecular targets are deemed ineligible for such targeted approaches.

Structure and enzymatic properties of molecular dendronized polymer-enzyme conjugates and their entrapment inside giant vesicles.

Macromolecular hybrid structures were prepared in which two types of enzymes, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and bovine erythrocytes Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD), were linked to a fluorescently labeled, polycationic, dendronized polymer (denpol). Two homologous denpols of first and second generation were used and compared, and the activities of HRP and SOD of the conjugates were measured in aqueous solution separately and in combination. In the latter case the efficiency of the two enzymes in catalyzing a two-step cascade reaction was evaluated.

Sustained gastrointestinal activity of dendronized polymer-enzyme conjugates.

Methods to stabilize and retain enzyme activity in the gastrointestinal tract are investigated rarely because of the difficulty of protecting proteins from an environment that has evolved to promote their digestion. Preventing the degradation of enzymes under these conditions, however, is critical for the development of new protein-based oral therapies. Here we show that covalent conjugation to polymers can stabilize orally administered therapeutic enzymes at different locations in the gastrointestinal tract.

A fluorescently labeled dendronized polymer-enzyme conjugate carrying multiple copies of two different types of active enzymes.

A hybrid structure of a synthetic dendronized polymer, two different types of enzymes (superoxide dismutase and horseradish peroxidase), and a fluorescent dye (fluorescein) was synthesized. Thereby, a single polymer chain carried multiple copies of the two enzymes and the fluorescein. The entire attachment chemistry is based on UV/vis-quantifiable bis-aryl hydrazone bond formation that allows direct quantification of bound molecules: 60 superoxide dismutase, 120 horseradish peroxidase, and 20 fluorescein molecules on an average polymer chain of 2000 repeating units.

Preparation of catalytically active, covalent α-polylysine-enzyme conjugates via UV/vis-quantifiable bis-aryl hydrazone bond formation.

Covalent UV/vis-quantifiable bis-aryl hydrazone bond formation was investigated for the preparation of conjugates between α-poly-d-lysine (PDL) and either α-chymotrypsin (α-CT) or horseradish peroxidase (HRP). PDL and the enzymes were first modified via free amino groups with the linking reagents succinimidyl 6-hydrazinonicotinate acetone hydrazone (S-HyNic, at pH 7.6) and succinimidyl 4-formylbenzoate (S-4FB, at pH 7.