BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Team develops conjugation strategy for longer-lived peptides

July 20, 2017 10:23 PM UTC

In a Nature Communications paper, a research team led by Christian Heinis at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) showed that conjugating a peptide-fatty acid construct to therapeutic peptides could extend their half-lives substantially. The authors suggested the strategy offers a new avenue for delivering peptide-based therapies that require action over longer windows. Heinis is a co-founder of Bicycle Therapeutics Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.).

The team synthesized a peptide-fatty acid tag comprising a short amino acid chain linked to palmitic acid that bound with high affinity to human albumin, a long-lived and common serum protein. Optimization of the tag increased its affinity for albumin and increased solubility in aqueous solution. Limitations on affinity and solubility have hindered previous conjugation strategies...

BCIQ Company Profiles

Bicycle Therapeutics plc

BCIQ Target Profiles

Factor XIIa