Accessing new biomedical applications by combining genetic design and chemical modification of elastin-like recombinamers

Abstract

The diversity of nature including biopolymers, organisms, or active molecules and the fact that these natural systems can be transformed to be used for other purposes, enables a myriad of promising starting points for new developments. Here, Elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) as a class of Abstract groups to foster electrostatic interactions with the negatively charged membrane. Herein we present an antagonistic approach based on ELRs with varying amounts of hydrophobic cholesteryl groups (ELR CTA s). The ability of membranes to stabilize cholesteryl groups is hypothesized to assist the coordination of hydrophobic ELRs with the membrane. The main objective was to generate a defined cellular coating of a recombinant protein that allows for total sequence control and less host, or batch-to-batch, variation as a substitute for existing coatings like alginate, polyelectrolytes, collagens and fibronectin. We used an in vitro cell-binding assay to quantify cellmembrane interactions, with the substrates showing enhanced cellular recognition and matrix distribution with an increasing number of cholesteryl groups incorporated. These novel materials and the versatile nature of their protein sequence have great potential as cellular markers, drug carriers, or hydrophobic cell-binding domains.