Synthesis of doxorubicin-albumin conjugates via cobalt coordination chemistry: The effect of reaction conditions on overall protein stability

The applications of nanotechnology in designing better treatments shows great promise in lessening the burden of chemotherapy while increasing therapeutic effect. Protein-drug conjugates are a rapidly expanding family of therapeutics that hold potential for ameliorating off-target toxic effects observed in chemotherapy. In this context, human serum albumin could act as a nanoscale delivery vector to alter the biodistribution of attached therapeutics.

This research explored the use of cobalt coordination chemistry in the synthesis of Dox- albumin conjugates. Doxorubicin was chosen because it contains a primary amine that could be crosslinked to protein using cobalt coordination chemistry. The effect of pH and reaction time on the synthesis of conjugates was investigated. Samples were characterized by High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Dynamic Light Scattering, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Optimized reaction conditions for synthesizing conjugates with varying numbers of dox molecules per protein was a major focus of the research.