School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, People's Republic of China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
Biomed Mater. 2021 Nov 24;17(1). doi: 10.1088/1748-605X/ac37b0.
The construction of microvascular network is one of the greatest challenges for tissue engineering and cell therapy. Endothelial cells are essential for the construction of network of blood vessels. However, their application meets challenges in clinic due to the limited resource of autologous endothelium. Mesenchymal stem cells can effectively promote the angiogenesis in ischemic tissues for their abilities of endothelial differentiation and paracrine, and abundant sources. Extracellular matrix (ECM) has been widely used as an ideal biomaterial to mimic cellular microenvironment for tissue engineering due to its merits of neutrality, good biocompatibility, degradability, and controllability. In this study, a functional cell derived ECM biomaterial enriched with VEGFA and bFGF by expressing the collagen-binding domain fused factor genes in host cells was prepared. This material could induce endothelial differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) and promote angiogenesis, which may improve the healing effect of skin injury. Our research not only provides a functional ECM material to inducing angiogenesis by inducing endothelial differentiation of hUCMSCs, but also shed light on the ubiquitous approaches to endow ECM materials different functions by enriching different factors. This study will benefit tissue engineering and regenerative medicine researches.
微血管网络的构建是组织工程和细胞治疗面临的最大挑战之一。内皮细胞是构建血管网络所必需的。然而，由于自体内皮细胞资源有限，其在临床上的应用受到限制。间充质干细胞具有内皮分化和旁分泌的能力，且来源丰富，可有效促进缺血组织的血管生成。细胞外基质（ECM）由于具有中性、良好的生物相容性、可降解性和可控性等优点，已被广泛用作组织工程中模拟细胞微环境的理想生物材料。在本研究中，通过在宿主细胞中表达胶原结合域融合因子基因，制备了一种富含 VEGFA 和 bFGF 的功能性细胞衍生 ECM 生物材料。该材料可诱导人脐带间充质干细胞（hUCMSCs）的内皮分化，促进血管生成，从而可能改善皮肤损伤的愈合效果。我们的研究不仅提供了一种功能性 ECM 材料，通过诱导 hUCMSCs 的内皮分化来诱导血管生成，还为通过富集不同因子为 ECM 材料赋予不同功能提供了一种普遍的方法。本研究将有益于组织工程和再生医学研究。
