Multimodal Bioactivation of Hydrophilic Electrospun Nanofibers Enables Simultaneous Tuning of Cell Adhesivity and Immunomodulatory Effects

5 years ago

Multimodal Bioactivation of Hydrophilic Electrospun Nanofibers Enables Simultaneous Tuning of Cell Adhesivity and Immunomodulatory Effects

Karl-Heinz Heffels, Harald Wajant, Angela Rossi, Jürgen Groll, Laura Wistlich, Juliane Kums

Biomaterials research usually focuses on functional and structural mimicry of the extracellular matrix or tissue hierarchy and morphology. Most recently, material-induced modulatory effects on the immune system to arouse a healing response is another upcoming strategy. Approaches, however, that integrate both aspects to induce healing and facilitate specific cell adhesion are so far little explored. This study exploits manifold but chemical crosslinker free functionalization of hydrophilic and nonadhesive electrospun fiber surfaces with peptides for controlled cell adhesion, and with neutralizing antibodies targeting the master cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) to dampen proinflammatory reactions by the fiber adherent cells. It is demonstrated that cell attachment and immunomodulatory properties of a textile can be tailored at the same time to generate meshes that combine immunosuppressive activity with specific cell adhesion properties. A simple, robust strategy for multimodal fiber functionalization within one preparation step using reactive isocyanate macromeres is presented. A threefold functionalization and the application of this approach generating meshes with biochemical activity is demonstrated. Immobilization of different antibodies and RGD peptides results in fibers with TNF-depleting and cell binding activity which may be used as immunomodulatory wound dressings materials.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201702903