Neoproteoglycans in tissue engineering

Abstract

Proteoglycans, comprised of a core protein to which glycosaminoglycan chains are covalently linked, are an important structural and functional family of macromolecules found in the extracellular matrix. Advances in our understanding of biological interactions have lead to a greater appreciation for the need to design tissue engineering scaffolds that incorporate mimetics of key extracellular matrix components. A variety of synthetic and semisynthetic molecules and polymers have been examined by tissue engineers that serve as structural, chemical and biological replacements for proteoglycans. These proteoglycan mimetics have been referred to as neoproteoglycans and serve as functional and therapeutic replacements for natural proteoglycans that are often unavailable for tissue engineering studies. Although neoproteoglycans have important limitations, such as limited signaling ability and biocompatibility, they have shown promise in replacing the natural activity of proteoglycans through cell and protein binding interactions. This review focuses on the recent in vivo and in vitro tissue engineering applications of three basic types of neoproteoglycan structures, protein–glycosaminoglycan conjugates, nano-glycosaminoglycan composites and polymer–glycosaminoglycan complexes.

Pharmacology of Heparin and Related Drugs

“…There is a considerable recent literature on the subject of tissue engineering 'scaffolds', biocompatible constructs which imitate the structural and functional aspects of extracellular matrix, to be populated either by the body's own endogenous cells or by cultured cells such as stem cells. These scaffolds are often designed to incorporate covalently attached heparin, HS (Meade et al, 2013), or HS mimetic molecules, giving rise to the concept of the neoproteoglycan (Weyers and Linhardt, 2013).…”

Glycosaminoglycan and Proteoglycan Biotherapeutics in Articular Cartilage Protection and Repair Strategies: Novel Approaches to Visco‐supplementation in Orthobiologics

“…PGs, comprised of core proteins decorated with GAG side-chains convey structural and functional properties to the ECM. [45] This review covers recent developments in the development and application of GAGbased biomaterials in articular cartilage tissue engineering and also considers their roles in supporting functional tissue regeneration. Tissue engineers have designed synthetic and semisynthetic biopolymers for use as structural, chemical, and biological replacements for native PGs.…”

“…[13,39,48,122,123] HA has important progenitor cell regulatory properties operative in embryonic and fetal development and is a common component of stem cell niches. [45,126] HABPs are prominent components of the neo-PGs, mAGC, and mLUB15 which are analogue forms of aggrecan and PRG4 and these make critical contributions to the water regain and tissue lubrication properties of cartilage. [13,32,58,124] HA also supports the lubrication of articular cartilage surfaces in synovial joints.…”

Macroporous chitosan hydrogels: Effects of sulfur on the loading and release behaviour of amino acid-based compounds

“…These materials attracted a great deal of interest for applications in drug delivery, in soft tissue regeneration, as biosensors, enzyme immobilization or for sample preparation in food and environmental analyses as they present several interesting properties, i.e. tunable shape and porosity, biocompatibility, possible surface functionalization (Dey, Bera, & Raj, 2013;Kopeček & Yang, 2012;Weyers & Linhardt, 2013;Kuan, Yee-Fung, Yuen, & Liong, 2012).…”