Boron’s journey: advances in the study and application of pharmacokinetics

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Boron-containing compounds (BCCs) are attractive chemical entities in drug development. Some of these compounds have been used in the treatment of human disease, and studies on their pharmacodynamics suggest that they employ multiple forms of activity. However, less is known about the pharmacokinetic profile of these molecules.

Areas covered: The herein compiled reported data is presented in accordance with the classical ‘ADME’ system for identifying the scope of BCCs in the respective fields. Our analysis suggests that these compounds have several distinct ways to move within the human body, and that the specific structural features of each molecule account for its distinct pharmacokinetic profile. These insights should be useful for designing BCCs with a desired effect.

Expert opinion: Increasing knowledge about the pharmacokinetics of BCCs is providing a broader understanding about the design of new release systems and potential drugs, as well as probable protein transporters that could be related to key roles in physiological processes. These transporters may be involved in sodium transport, hormone release and regulation of the cell cycle. The shared features among groups of BCCs are being identified in order to apply these insights to the design of advantageous compounds.

KEYWORDS:

• Boron
• pharmacokinetics
• releasing system
• bioavailability
• biotransformation

Article highlights

• Advances in the current century have shown that boron-containing compounds (BCCs) can be widely used for biomedical purposes.

• The pharmacokinetic profile is often different between a BCC and the boron-free compound with a similar structure. Some BCCs have great stability in biological conditions.

• Some membrane proteins have been identified as useful transporters of BCCs.

• For BCCs, there is not one single common profile, but instead a wide gamma of kinetic profiles dependent on the structural moieties of specific compounds.

• The differences between boron-free compounds and BCCs can be utilized to design new drug-release systems as well as boron-containing drugs with selectivity and/or stability.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Acknowledgments

BA Larsen carried out the revision of English language in this paper.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

The work by MA Soriano-Ursúa and JG Trujillo-Ferrara was partially supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología in Mexico (Grants-CB168116 and CB235785), Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado (M1754) and Comisión de Operación y Fomento de Actividades Académicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional.