[Development of a therapeutic agent for Menkes disease: solubilization of a copper-disulfiram complex].

Menkes disease (MD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by copper deficiency. It is caused by defective intestinal absorption of copper resulting from a deficiency of a copper-transporting ATPase, ATP7A. We investigated the effects of combination therapy with copper and disulfiram, a known lipophilic chelator. We synthesized a copper-disulfiram complex (Cu-DSF) and determined its crystal structure by X-ray crystallographic analysis. Unfortunately, Cu-DSF was not orally bioavailable due to its lipophilicity. We therefore planned to use cyclodextrin as a solubilizing agent to increase the water solubility of Cu-DSF. After comparisons of the effects of cyclodextrins (α, β, γ), it was found that addition of β-cyclodextrin (β-CyD) increased the solubility of Cu-DSF. Moreover, the modified β-CyD, hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, was yet more effective as a solubilizing agent. For the development of a convenient method to determine the concentration of Cu-DSF included by β-cyclodextrins, a standard curve based on UV-visible(VIS) absorption was derived.