Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40577388›Full record

ArticleBioconjugate chemistry2025

Impact of Conjugation Chemistry on the Pharmacokinetics of Peptide-Polymer Conjugates in a Model of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Jason Ren Wu, Akash Canjels, Rei Miyauchi, Ester J Kwon

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Bioconjugate chemistry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Phage Display as a Promising Platform for Peptide Drug Discovery.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Jason Ren WuDepartment of Bioengineering, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-4422-4850
Akash CanjelsDepartment of Bioengineering, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093, United States.
Rei MiyauchiDepartment of Bioengineering, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093, United States.
Ester J KwonDepartment of Bioengineering, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-6335-9681

Funding

Nanoscale Biomaterials for Targeted Repair in Traumatic Brain InjuryDP2NS111507 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI KWON, ESTER J. · 2018 to 2018
$2.4M
NINDS NIH HHS DP2 NS111507
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a leading cause of long-term disability and mortality; however, there are no effective therapies to mitigate secondary injury and long-term neurological impairments. After the initial mechanical insult, there is a secondary injury that leads to neuroinflammation and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, both of which are linked to changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM). A short peptide sequence, CAQK (Cys-Ala-Gln-Lys), targets upregulated ECM proteoglycans after TBI and has exhibited therapeutic properties in preclinical TBI studies. However, like many peptides, CAQK has poor pharmacokinetics, with rapid systemic clearance limiting its therapeutic potential. To overcome these limitations, we investigated a peptide-polymer conjugate using a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) scaffold to improve the peptide pharmacokinetics of CAQK. We synthesized materials using two conjugation chemistries, maleimide-thiol Michael-type addition and dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)-azide strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition. The impact of linker selection on biodistribution and clearance was distinct. We first showed that conjugation of CAQK to PEG, irrespective of linkers, significantly extended the peptide's blood half-life by 90-fold and increased brain accumulation. In the analysis of off-target organs, we observed longer retention of DBCO conjugates in the liver, kidney, and spleen compared to maleimide conjugates. Given the high incidence of TBI in populations such as military personnel and athletes, we explored whether our long-circulating material could be given as a prophylaxis. We demonstrated the accumulation of 4.5%ID/g CAQK in the injured brain when the conjugate was delivered prophylactically 24 h before injury. Our work underscores the advantage of long-circulating peptide-polymer conjugates in the context of TBI and the impact of conjugation chemistry on pharmacokinetics.

Indexed as

Brain Injuries, TraumaticPeptidesPolyethylene GlycolsAnimalsDisease Models, AnimalMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLTissue DistributionPeptidesPolyethylene Glycols

Identifiers

PMID40577388
PMCPMC12272539

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.