Recombinant Human Tropoelastin as Biomaterial for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Polymeric biomaterials are widely used as long-term implantable materials for tissue replacement and repair. However, many classes of material are limited as they elicit an uncontrolled foreign body response. Recombinant human tropoelastin is a biocompatible biomaterial that may be able to overcome current challenges facing tissue engineering. The aim of current studies is to investigate the host responses to these three different materials: silk, polyurethane Elast-Eon and low density polyethylene with tropoelastin employed as a co-polymer or surface coating in vivo. We demonstrated that all tropoelastin treated samples reduced the foreign body response by down-regulation of cytokine productions (i.e. IL-1β, MMP-2, MMP-9, GM-CSF, IL-6 and IL-10), less neovascularisation, reduced neutrophils and macrophages activity. Also increased the porosity of PU/tropoelastin led to enhance cell proliferation and infiltration into the scaffolds promotes tissue regeneration. Our results concluded that using tropoelastin as a co-polymer or surface coating improves the biocompatibility of these three polymers, resulting in a reduced host inflammatory response and a favourable wound healing.