The poor water solubility of paclitaxel causes significant problems in producing cancer therapeutic formulations. Here, we aimed to solubilize paclitaxel using biocompatible cyclic carbohydrates. Generally recognized as safe, labeled β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), a cyclic α-1,4-glucan consisting of seven glucoses, was prepared, and bio-sourced cyclosophoraoses (CyS), which are unbranched cyclic β-1,2-glucans with 17-23 glucose units, were purified using various chromatographic methods from Rhizobium leguminosarum cultural broth. For effective targeting, CyS and β-CD were modified with a biotinyl moiety in a reaction of mono-6-amino CyS and mono-6-amino-β-CD with N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of biotinamidohexanoic acid. Interestingly, the aqueous solubility of paclitaxel was enhanced 10.3- and 3.7-fold in the presence of biotinyl CyS and biotinyl β-CD, respectively. These findings suggest that biotin-appended cyclooligosaccharides can be applied to improve the delivery of paclitaxel.
Keywords: biotin; cyclooligosaccharide; paclitaxel; solubilization.