Improving solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs by protein-based strategy: A review

Xiaowen Liu; Limin Zhao; Baojian Wu; Fener Chen

doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.122704

Improving solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs by protein-based strategy: A review

Int J Pharm. 2023 Mar 5:634:122704. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.122704. Epub 2023 Feb 7.

Authors

Xiaowen Liu¹, Limin Zhao², Baojian Wu³, Fener Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis of Chiral Drugs, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: liuxw@fudan.edu.cn.
² Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis of Chiral Drugs, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China.
³ Institute of Molecular Rhythm and Metabolism, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁴ Engineering Center of Catalysis and Synthesis for Chiral Molecules, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Industrial Asymmetric Catalysis of Chiral Drugs, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: rfchen@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 36758883
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.122704

Abstract

Poorly water-soluble drugs are frequently encountered and present a most challengeable difficulty in pharmaceutical development. Poor solubility of drugs can lead to suboptimal bioavailability and therapeutic efficiency. Increasing efforts have been contributed to improve the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs for better pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Among various solubility enhancement technologies, protein-based strategy to address poorly water-soluble drugs issues has special interests for natural advantages including versatile interactions between proteins and hydrophobic drugs, biocompatibility, biodegradation, and metabolization of proteins. The protein-drug formulations could be formed by covalent conjugations or noncovalent interactions to facilitate solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. This review is to summarize the advances using proteins including plant proteins, mammalian proteins, and recombinant proteins, to enhance water solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs.

Keywords: Bioavailability; Poorly water-soluble drugs; Protein; Solubility enhancement; Water solubility.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Availability
Drug Compounding
Drug Development*
Mammals
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Solubility
Water* / chemistry

Substances

Water
Pharmaceutical Preparations