Trehalose Glycopolymers as Excipients for Protein Stabilization

Herein, the synthesis of four different trehalose glycopolymers and investigation of their ability to stabilize proteins to heat and lyophilization stress are described. The disaccharide, α,α-trehalose, was modified with a styrenyl acetal, methacrylate acetal, styrenyl ether, or methacrylate moiety resulting in four different monomers. These monomers were then separately polymerized using free radical polymerization with azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator to synthesize the glycopolymers. Horseradish peroxidase and glucose oxidase were incubated at 70 and 50 °C, respectively, and β-galactosidase was lyophilized multiple times in the presence of various ratios of the polymers or trehalose. The protein activities were subsequently tested and found to be significantly higher when the polymers were present during the stress compared to no additive and to equivalent amounts of trehalose. Different molecular weights (10 kDa, 20 kDa, and 40 kDa) were tested, and all were equivalent in their stabilizati...