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Bile Acid–Targeted Hyaluronic Acid Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oral Absorption of Deferoxamine

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Abstract

Patients with β-thalassemia and sickle cell disease often rely on blood transfusions which can lead to hemochromatosis and chronic oxidative stress in cells and tissues. Deferoxamine (DFO) is clinically approved to treat hemochromatosis but is suboptimal to patients due to its poor pharmacokinetics which requires long-term infusion regimens. Although the oral route is preferable, DFO has limited oral bioavailability. Studies have shown that hyaluronic acid (HA) and bile acid (BA) can enhance the oral absorption of poorly absorbed drugs. To improve upon the oral delivery of DFO, we report on the synthesis and characterization of HA (MW 15 kD) conjugated to two types of BA, deoxycholic acid (DOCA) and taurocholic acid (TCA), and DFO. The resulting seven polymeric conjugates all formed self-assembled nanoparticles. The degree of BA and DFO conjugation to the HA polymer was confirmed at each step through nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The best formulations for further in vitro testing were determined based on physicochemical characterizations and included HA-DFO, TCA9-HA-DFO, and DOCA9-HA-DFO. Results from in vitro assays revealed that TCA9-HA-DFO enhanced the permeation of DFO the most and was also less cytotoxic to cells compared to the free drug DFO. In addition, ferritin reduction studies indicated that the conjugation of DFO to TCA9-HA did not compromise its chelation efficiency at equivalent free DFO concentrations. This research provides supportive data for the idea that TCA conjugated to HA may enhance the oral absorption of DFO, improve its cytocompatibility, and maintain its iron chelation efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA

    Elizabeth Oladoyin Agboluaje, Shuolin Cui, Neil J. Grimsey & May P. Xiong

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  1. Elizabeth Oladoyin Agboluaje
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  2. Shuolin Cui
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E.A. wrote the initial draft of the manuscript and performed all the experiments. N.G. assisted with the microscopy experiments and image processing analysis. All authors have edited and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to May P. Xiong.

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Agboluaje, E.O., Cui, S., Grimsey, N.J. et al. Bile Acid–Targeted Hyaluronic Acid Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oral Absorption of Deferoxamine. AAPS J 26, 46 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12248-024-00911-z

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