When the word steroids comes up, a lot of people think of doping. It is much less well known that steroids are used in the treatment of many diseases, such as asthma, neurodermatitis, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s Disease. Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Jacobs University in Bremen have now found a possible way that steroids can exert their effect in the human body in a gentler and more efficient way.

It is difficult for steroids to dissolve in water, and they require corresponding excipients so that they can be used as medications. These molecules, also called active substance transporters or synthetic hosts, enclose the respective active substance in a cavity and dissolve it in the body. For steroids, it has been primarily cyclodextrins, ring-shaped glucose molecules, which have carried out this task. Their disadvantage: They accelerate the dissolution process so much that some people tolerate the taking of steroids poorly. With the cucurbiturils, the scientists from Karlsruhe and Bremen have now identified a very promising transport molecule that can be used to reduce such undesirable side effects. 

“We have now found that the host class of cucurbiturils has a higher affinity for the steroids that are decisive for medical use than do the cyclodextrins,” explains Dr. Frank Biedermann, scientist at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at KIT. Cyclodextrins are relatively large molecules, which have a flexible form that on the one hand makes them more adaptable but also causes them to collapse more readily. In order to achieve the necessary water solubility, therefore, a higher dose of the active substance and excipient is needed. This increases the rate of adverse effects of the corresponding medication. In addition, cyclodextrins have a greater tendency to bond with thinner molecular chains, such as cholesterol, which is not relevant as an active substance. 

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Publication of the results: J.Am.Chem.Soc. 2016, 138, 13022-13029