Abstract
Purpose :
This study aims to investigate the in vitro and in vivo sustained delivery of antibody from an injectable, hydrolysable, polysaccharide-based in situ hydrogel designed for long-term protein release.
Methods :
The hydrogel was made by mixing the two polymer solution precursors, namely the vinyl sulfone (-VS) and the thiol (-SH) modified polysaccharides at physiological condition. Model IgG proteins were mixed with polymer precursor before crosslinking and were encapsulated after gel formation. The protein release rate was controlled by the hydrogel mesh size. Ester-based linkers of controllable hydrolysis rate were embedded in the polymer network so that the hydrogels were hydrolytic at physiological environment. The IgG encapsulated hydrogels were incubated in PBS (pH7.4) at 37oC in vitro to measure the in vitro degradation and release. Bevacizumab-encapsulated hydrogel was injected in rabbit vitreous, and the aqueous humor were sampled periodically to measure the pharmacokinetics of hydrogel formulation in the eye.
Results :
The degradation of hydrogel and the release of protein was controlled to be at least 3 months in vitro and in vivo.
Conclusions :
Hydrolytic hydrogel can be a suitable platform for the controlled release of protein therapeutics in the eye.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.