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Critical Design Features of Phenyl Carboxylate-Containing Polymer Microbicides
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Critical Design Features of Phenyl Carboxylate-Containing Polymer Microbicides

Robert F Rando, Sakae Obara, Mark C Osterling, Marie Mankowski, Shendra R Miller, Mary L Ferguson, Fred C Krebs, Brian Wigdahl, Mohamed Labib and Hiroyasu Kokubo
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, v 50(9), pp 3081-3089
Sep 2006
PMID: 16940105
url
https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.01609-05View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Antiviral Agents
Recent studies of cellulose-based polymers substituted with carboxylic acids like cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP) have demonstrated the utility of using carboxylic acid groups instead of the more common sulfate or sulfonate moieties. However, the pK a of the free carboxylic acid group is very important and needs careful selection. In a polymer like CAP the pK a is approximately 5.28. This means that under the low pH conditions found in the vaginal lumen, CAP would be only minimally soluble and the carboxylic acid would not be fully dissociated. These issues can be overcome by substitution of the cellulose backbone with a moiety whose free carboxylic acid group(s) has a lower pK a . Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose trimellitate (HPMCT) is structurally similar to CAP; however, its free carboxylic acids have pK a s of 3.84 and 5.2. HPMCT, therefore, remains soluble and molecularly dispersed at a much lower pH than CAP. In this study, we measured the difference in solubility and dissociation between CAP and HPMCT and the effect these parameters might have on antiviral efficacy. Further experiments revealed that the degree of acid substitution of the cellulose backbone can significantly impact the overall efficacy of the polymer, thereby demonstrating the need to optimize any prospective polymer microbicide with respect to pH considerations and the degree of acid substitution. In addition, we have found HPMCT to be a potent inhibitor of CXCR4, CCR5, and dual tropic strains of human immunodeficiency virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Therefore, the data presented herein strongly support further evaluation of an optimized HPMCT variant as a candidate microbicide.

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Collaboration types
Industry collaboration
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Microbiology
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
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