Potentiation of anti-angiogenic activity of heparin by blocking the ATIII-interacting pentasaccharide unit and increasing net anionic charge

Seung Woo Chung, Myungjin Lee, Sang Mun Bae, Jooho Park, Ok Cheol Jeon, Hui Sun Lee, Han Choe, Han Sung Kim, Beom Suk Lee, Rang Woon Park, Sang Yoon Kim, Youngro Byun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Heparin, a potent anticoagulant used for the prevention of venous thromboembolism, has been recognized as a tumor angiogenesis inhibitor. Its limitation in clinical application for cancer therapy, however, arises from its strong anticoagulant activity, which causes associated adverse effects. In this study, we show the structural correlation of LHT7, a previously developed heparin-based angiogenesis inhibitor, with its influence on VEGF blockade and its decreased anticoagulant activity. LHT7 was characterized as having average seven molecules of sodium taurocholates conjugated to one molecule of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH). This study showed that the conjugation of sodium taurocholates selectively blocked interaction with antithrombin III (ATIII) while enhancing the binding with VEGF. This resulted in LHT7 to have negligible anticoagulant activity but potent anti-angiogenic activity. Following up on this finding, we showed that the bidirectional effect of sodium taurocholate conjugation was due to its unique structure, that is, the sterane core hindering the ATIII-binding pentasaccharide unit of LMWH with its bulky and rigid structural characteristics while the terminal sulfate group interacts with VEGF to produce stronger binding. In addition, we showed that LHT7 was localized in the tumor, especially on the endothelial cells. One explanation for this might be that LHT7 was delivered to the tumor via platelets.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9070-9079
Number of pages10
JournalBiomaterials
Volume33
Issue number35
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2012

Keywords

  • Angiogenesis
  • Drug design
  • Low-molecular-weight heparin
  • Taurocholate
  • VEGF

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