Mesenchymal stem cell‐secretome laden photopolymerizable hydrogels for wound healing

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cell‐derived secretome represents an emerging acellular therapeutic which possess significant opportunity for clinical applications due to its anti‐inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and wound healing properties. However, maintaining therapeutic efficacy and ensuring stability of cell‐based products is challenging, requiring a robust delivery method. Therefore, we designed a hydrogel‐based scaffold loaded with CK Cell Technologies' proprietary Mesenchymal stem cell‐secretome for controlled release treatment of acute and chronic wounds. We incorporated both conditioned media (CM) and extracellular vesicles (EVs) into gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels and demonstrated how we can tune the diffusive release of the EVs from them. To demonstrate viability of the approach, we developed a wound healing scratch assay where we see in situ release of CM and EVs promote enhanced migration of human dermal fibroblasts (hDFs). We see the colocalization of these EVs in the fibroblasts using fluorescent microscopy. Finally, as a surrogate for in vivo neovascularization, we conducted an in vitro tube formation assay for the MSC‐secretome using matrigel‐embedded human microvascular endothelial cells. By adding CM and EVs, we observe an increase in tubulogenesis. Collectively, our data demonstrates by tuning the GelMA properties, we can influence the controlled release of the MSC‐secretome for a wound dressing and bandage application for chronic and acute wounds.