Biotin reagents for antibody pretargeting. 4. Selection of biotin conjugates for in vivo application based on their dissociation rate from avidin and streptavidin.

An investigation was conducted to determine the affect of structural variation of biotin conjugates on their dissociation rates from Av and SAv. This information was sought to help identify optimal biotin derivatives for in vivo applications. Fifteen biotin derivatives were conjugated with a cyanocobalamin (CN−Cbl) derivative for evaluation of their “relative” dissociation rates by size exclusion HPLC analysis. Two biotin-CN−Cbl conjugates, one containing unaltered biotin and the other containing iminobiotin, were prepared as reference compounds for comparison purposes. The first structural variations studied involved modification of the biotinamide bond with a N-methyl moiety (i.e., sarcosine conjugate), lengthening the valeric acid side chain by a methylene unit (i.e., homobiotin), and replacing the biotinamide bond with thiourea bonds in two conjugates. The rate of dissociation of the biotin-CN−Cbl derivative from Av and SAv was significantly increased for biotin derivatives containing those structural...