Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

A number of skin substitutes have been developed over the years to promote wound healing in acute and chronic wounds. While it has been proposed that the addition of growth factors and other agents could improve the efficacy of healing and regeneration, this strategy does not work because purified peptide growth factors are short-lived in the highly proteolytic wound environment. To address this limitation, we have developed long-lived nanoparticle technologies that can release bioactive peptides to help improve wound healing. These nanoparticles consist of fusion proteins of elastin-like peptides (ELPs) fused with relevant bioactive peptides that spontaneously self-assemble at physiological temperatures. The technique used enables rapid and inexpensive purification of the fusion proteins through inverse transition cycling, and the nanoparticles thus formed are small enough to be easily incorporated into existing skin substitutes. Results will be shown using three different bioactive peptides: ARA290, SDF-1 and KGF. ARA290 is a peptide from erythropoietin that increases the tolerance of cells to stress, and helps preserve functionality of the microvascular network around the primary injury. SDF-1 is a growth factor that has been shown to inhibit wound contraction and promote dermal regeneration in vivo. KGF is known to stimulate epidermal cell proliferation and migration; Due to the versatility of the ELP-based technology, one can develop ELP fusion proteins that target many different aspects of the healing process. Although here we chose to target cell viability (ARA290), the dermis (SDF-1), and the epidermis (KGF), once could consider ELP-based nanoparticles that incorporate other peptides secreted by M2 macrophages, such as TGF-beta and IL-10, as well as cationic bactericidal peptides. The nanoparticles may also be useful in a variety of applications to treat injuries to tissues other than skin, where in many instances preformed or injectable matrices are used to promote tissue repair and regeneration.

Biography

Email: yarmush@rci.rutgers.edu