Protein-engineered biomaterials: Nanoscale mimics of the extracellular matrix

• Published in: Biochimica et biophysica acta Vol. 1810; no. 3; pp. 339 - 349
• Main Authors: Romano, Nicole H, Sengupta, Debanti, Chung, Cindy, Heilshorn, Sarah C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.03.2011
• Subjects: Animals; biocompatible materials; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biomimetics; cell culture; drugs; extracellular matrix; Extracellular Matrix - chemistry; Humans; ligands; mechanical properties; Nanostructures - chemistry; Peptide Fragments - chemistry; Protein Engineering; protein synthesis; proteins; proteolysis; recombinant proteins
• ISSN: 0304-4165; 0006-3002
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2010.07.005

BACKGROUND: Traditional materials used as in vitro cell culture substrates are rigid and flat surfaces that lack the exquisite nano- and micro-scale features of the in vivo extracellular environment. While these surfaces can be coated with harvested extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins to partially recapitulate the bio-instructive nature of the ECM, these harvested proteins often exhibit large batch-to-batch variability and can be difficult to customize for specific biological studies. In contrast, recombinant protein technology can be utilized to synthesize families of 3 dimensional protein-engineered biomaterials that are cyto-compatible, reproducible, and fully customizable. SCOPE OF REVIEW: Here we describe a modular design strategy to synthesize protein-engineered biomaterials that fuse together multiple repeats of nanoscale peptide design motifs into full-length engineered ECM mimics. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Due to the molecular-level precision of recombinant protein synthesis, these biomaterials can be tailored to include a variety of bio-instructional ligands at specified densities, to exhibit mechanical properties that match those of native tissue, and to include proteolytic target sites that enable cell-triggered scaffold remodeling. Furthermore, these biomaterials can be processed into forms that are injectable for minimally-invasive delivery or spatially patterned to enable the release of multiple drugs with distinct release kinetics. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: Given the reproducibility and flexibility of these protein-engineered biomaterials, they are ideal substrates for reductionist biological studies of cell–matrix interactions, for in vitro models of physiological processes, and for bio-instructive scaffolds in regenerative medicine therapies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Nanotechnologies - Emerging Applications in Biomedicine.