TY - JOUR
T1 - Stabilisation of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) against stressors encountered in medicinal product processing and evaluation
AU - Benington, Leah R.
AU - Rajan, Gunesh
AU - Locher, Cornelia
AU - Lim, Lee Yong
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is a highly labile protein with strong potential for tissue engineering. The aim of this study was to develop FGF-2 formulations that are stable against physical stressors encountered in pharmaceutical processing and evaluation. Pharmaceutical excipients, alone or in combination, were added to aqueous FGF-2 (770 ng/mL) solution and the stability of the resulting solutions on storage at 4–37◦ C was evaluated. Stability of the solutions to repeated freeze-thaw cycles and lyophilisation was also evaluated, as well as the stability of the lyophilised stabilised protein to storage at −4, 4 and 18◦ C for up to 12 months. In all of these experiments FGF-2 was quantified by ELISA assay. The as-received FGF-2, when dissolved in water, was highly unstable, retaining only 50% of baseline protein content after 30 min at 37◦ C or 1 h at 25◦ C. By contrast, FGF-2 solutions prepared with 0.5% w/v methylcellulose (MC) and 20 mM alanine (formulation F5) or with 0.5% w/v MC and 1 mg/mL human serum albumin (HSA) (formulation F6) were highly stable, having residual FGF-2 content comparable to baseline levels even after 2 h at 37◦ C and 5 h at 25◦ C. F5 and F6 were also highly stable to repeated freeze-thaw cycles, with >99% of FGF-2 load remaining after the third cycle. In addition, F5 and F6 were stable to lyophilisation, and the lyophilised products could be stored at −4, 4 or 18◦ C for at least 12 months, with less than 1% loss in mean FGF-2 content. Thus, FGF-2 solution is effectively stabilised against both thermal and processing stressors in the presence of MC and alanine (F5), or MC and HSA (F6). The resultant FGF-2 solutions may be applied as medicinal products or further processed into more advanced medicinal products, e.g., scaffolds, for wound healing and tissue regeneration.
AB - Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is a highly labile protein with strong potential for tissue engineering. The aim of this study was to develop FGF-2 formulations that are stable against physical stressors encountered in pharmaceutical processing and evaluation. Pharmaceutical excipients, alone or in combination, were added to aqueous FGF-2 (770 ng/mL) solution and the stability of the resulting solutions on storage at 4–37◦ C was evaluated. Stability of the solutions to repeated freeze-thaw cycles and lyophilisation was also evaluated, as well as the stability of the lyophilised stabilised protein to storage at −4, 4 and 18◦ C for up to 12 months. In all of these experiments FGF-2 was quantified by ELISA assay. The as-received FGF-2, when dissolved in water, was highly unstable, retaining only 50% of baseline protein content after 30 min at 37◦ C or 1 h at 25◦ C. By contrast, FGF-2 solutions prepared with 0.5% w/v methylcellulose (MC) and 20 mM alanine (formulation F5) or with 0.5% w/v MC and 1 mg/mL human serum albumin (HSA) (formulation F6) were highly stable, having residual FGF-2 content comparable to baseline levels even after 2 h at 37◦ C and 5 h at 25◦ C. F5 and F6 were also highly stable to repeated freeze-thaw cycles, with >99% of FGF-2 load remaining after the third cycle. In addition, F5 and F6 were stable to lyophilisation, and the lyophilised products could be stored at −4, 4 or 18◦ C for at least 12 months, with less than 1% loss in mean FGF-2 content. Thus, FGF-2 solution is effectively stabilised against both thermal and processing stressors in the presence of MC and alanine (F5), or MC and HSA (F6). The resultant FGF-2 solutions may be applied as medicinal products or further processed into more advanced medicinal products, e.g., scaffolds, for wound healing and tissue regeneration.
KW - Basic fibroblast growth factor
KW - Fibroblast growth factor 2
KW - Processing stability
KW - Stabilisation
KW - Thermal stability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117945588&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pharmaceutics13111762
DO - 10.3390/pharmaceutics13111762
M3 - Article
C2 - 34834177
AN - SCOPUS:85117945588
SN - 1999-4923
VL - 13
JO - Pharmaceutics
JF - Pharmaceutics
IS - 11
M1 - 1762
ER -