Multivalent design of apoptosis-inducing bid-BH3 peptide-oligosaccharides boosts the intracellular activity at identical overall peptide concentrations.

Multivalent peptide-oligosaccharide conjugates were prepared and used to investigate the multivalency effect concerning the activity of Bid-BH3 peptides in live cells. Dextran oligosaccharides were carboxyethylated selectively in the 2-position of the carbohydrate units and activated for the ligation of N-terminally cysteinylated peptides. Ligation through maleimide coupling was found to be superior to the native chemical ligation protocol. Monomeric Bid-BH3 peptides were virtually inactive, whereas pentameric peptide conjugates induced apoptosis up to 20-fold stronger at identical peptide concentrations. Comparison of lowly multivalent and highly multivalent peptide dextrans proved a multivalency effect in life cells which was specific for the BH3 peptide sequence.