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Integrin binding

Sticking around vessels

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 881–883 (2017)Cite this article

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A study demonstrates that controlled integrin binding on a biomaterial was capable of promoting vascular cell sprouting and formation of a non-leaky blood vessel network in a healthy and diseased state.

The significance of cell–ECM interaction has received a lot of attention, and this fascinating interplay has been investigated with a range of substrates. It has been shown that endothelial cell interaction with interstitial matrix proteins such as collagen is modulated by integrins, and this association is fundamental in the activation of endothelial cells and tubular morphogenesis2. Polymers lacking intrinsic cell-binding capacity provide a blank-slate approach and lend themselves to isolation and elucidation of the role of a number of biomaterial properties. A 'plug and play' approach can be applied with such biomaterials, and precise mechanistic questions can be answered. Peptides such as Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD), which can mimic integrin-binding sequences on naturally occurring proteins, can be incorporated within polymeric biomaterials to study, for instance, the sequential activation of vascular morphogenesis in an engineered matrix3. Using this platform, it has been shown that both integrins α5β1 and αvβ3 regulate vascular morphogenesis in a polymeric matrix. This tunable platform has been used to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of human-engineered microvasculature networks, using pathological in vivo model systems. Interestingly, the role of integrins appears much more complex than at first glance. Rather than acting just as cellular Velcro enabling cell–ECM adhesion, integrins represent an incredibly elegant collective means of cell–ECM communication, and also act as potent bioactive regulators that can activate transduction of signals that inform cell behaviour4.

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Figure 1: Integrin-binding effects on cell patterning and vascularization.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences-Oncology Center,

    Michael R. Blatchley & Sharon Gerecht

  2. Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, USA

    Michael R. Blatchley & Sharon Gerecht

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, USA

    Michael R. Blatchley

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, USA

    Sharon Gerecht

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  1. Michael R. Blatchley
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  2. Sharon Gerecht
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Correspondence to Sharon Gerecht.

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Blatchley, M., Gerecht, S. Sticking around vessels. Nature Mater 16, 881–883 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4977

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