Why use crosslinkers with polyethylene glycol (PEG) or polyetheylene oxide (PEO) spacer arms?
PEG-containing reagents have been used to modify proteins to provide specific advantages. Protein PEGylation can improve the stability of the modified protein, protect it from proteolytic digestion, increase its half life in a biological application, mask it from causing an immunogenic response, decrease its antigenicity or potential toxicity, improve its solubility, diminish the potential for aggregation, and minimize interference for both in vitro and in vivo applications. Polyethylene glycol, also called polyethylene oxide (PEO), has these effects because it is nontoxic, nonimmunogenic, hydrophilic, water soluble and highly flexible.
