Final Report Summary - HEALINSYNERGY (Material-driven Fibronectin Fibrillogenesis to Engineer Synergistic Growth Factor Microenvironments)
The core goal of this project has been to develop a novel means of controlling growth factor presentation in a clinically relevant manner. We have utilised the unique properties of specific polymers to control the adsorption of a protein, fibronectin, in a specific fibrillar networked conformation onto surfaces. We have shown that his network conformation allows the binding of both growth factors and cells based on the availability of certain domains of fibronectin which are usually occluded. We have gone on to demonstrate that this material driven system is highly efficient at driving stem cell osteogenesis, a key process in bone repair, whilst using far lower doses of growth factor than existing orthopaedic products and have demonstrated that this process relies on the dual availability of both cell and growth factor binding sites on fibronectin. We have examined the generality of this system to several growth factors which can stimulate bone repair, wound healing and formation of new vascular tissue. Through in vivo models we have also demonstrated the applicability of this biomaterial system for clinical use in the repair of bone defects such as non-union fractures. Our results show that growth factors can be used with clinical effectiveness at far lower doses when used in combination with material based systems such as ours.