In vitro and in vivo investigation of osteogenic properties of self-contained phosphate-releasing injectable purine-crosslinked chitosan-hydroxyapatite constructs.

Bone fracture repair is a multifaceted, coordinated physiological process that requires new bone formation and resorption, eventually returning the fractured bone to its original state. Currently, a variety of different approaches are pursued to accelerate the repair of defective bones, which include the use of 'gold standard' autologous bone grafts. However, such grafts may not be readily available, and procedural complications may result in undesired outcomes. Considering the ease of use and tremendous customization potentials, synthetic materials may become a more suitable alternative of bone grafts. In this study, we examined the osteogenic potential of guanosine 5'-diphosphate-crosslinked chitosan scaffolds with the incorporation of hydroxyapatite, with or without pyrophosphatase activity, both in vitro and in vivo. First, scaffolds embedded with cells were characterized for cell morphology, viability, and attachment. The cell-laden scaffolds were found to significantly enhance proliferation for up to threefold, double alkaline phosphatase activity and osterix expression, and increase calcium phosphate deposits in vitro. Next, chitosan scaffolds were implanted at the fracture site in a mouse model of intramedullary rod-fixed tibial fracture. Our results showed increased callus formation at the fracture site with the scaffold carrying both hydroxyapatite and pyrophosphatase in comparison to the control scaffolds lacking both pyrophosphatase and hydroxyapatite, or pyrophosphatase alone. These results indicate that the pyrophosphatase-hydroxyapatite composite scaffold has a promising capacity to facilitate bone fracture healing.

One-step fabrication of apatite-chitosan scaffold as a potential injectable construct for bone tissue engineering.

Biomineralization of soft scaffolds is a new venture in bone tissue engineering. This work aimed to develop a new injectable and in-situ gelling soft scaffold with chitosan and apatites through a rapid purine-crosslinking reaction. The scaffolds were fabricated by mixing chitosan, adenosine diphosphate and biominerals in an 'all-in-one-step' procedure. The gelling of chitosan via the crosslinker occurs in <4 s as measured by impedance spectroscopy. These soft gels could retain up to 4 times their weight in water. Spectroscopy showed the formation of ionic bonds between chitosan and the apatites. Morphological analyses revealed an interconnected, highly porous structure, with pore size ranging from 200 nm-200 µm that was maintained even with the biominerals. Rheology showed a viscoelastic behavior of the solutions and the elastic behavior of the sponges, and therefore their injectability potential. in vitro studies showed good cell adhesion and morphology, as well as potential use for bone tissue engineering applications.

Genipin-crosslinked chitosan/poly-L-lysine gels promote fibroblast adhesion and proliferation.

Chitosan blends have been widely investigated to create biomaterials with desirable physicochemical and biological properties for tissue engineering applications. A recurring difficulty, however, has been to maintain their stability in an aqueous environment. The rationale behind this study was to demonstrate that genipin crosslinking can improve and maintain the stability of chitosan/poly-l-lysine (PLL) blends. Four gel formulations were prepared by varying the weight ratios of chitosan and PLL. Electron microscopy revealed that genipin crosslinking provided a more homogenous gel surface compared to uncrosslinked gels. Moreover, it was discovered that 3h was sufficient to stabilize the gels. In vitro studies using fibroblasts demonstrated that genipin-crosslinked gels enhanced fibroblasts' attachment as compared to uncrosslinked gels. Moreover, cell viability was significantly improved by 1.6 times on 60:40 gels, and 6.5 times on 50:50 gels after crosslinking. Finally, proliferation was enhanced up to 5 times on 60:40 gels.

CXCR4 peptide antagonist inhibits primary breast tumor growth, metastasis and enhances the efficacy of anti-VEGF treatment or docetaxel in a transgenic mouse model.

CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor implicated in the homing of cancer cells to target metastatic organs, which overexpress its ligand, stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1. To determine the efficacy of targeting CXCR4 on primary tumor growth and metastasis, we used a peptide inhibitor of CXCR4, CTCE-9908, that was administered in a clinically relevant approach using a transgenic breast cancer mouse model. We first performed a dosing experiment of CTCE-9908 in the PyMT mouse model, testing 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg versus the scrambled peptide in groups of 8-16 mice. We then combined CTCE-9908 with docetaxel or DC101 (an anti-VEGFR2 monoclonal antibody). We found that increasing doses of CTCE-9908 alone slowed the rate of tumor growth, with a 45% inhibition of primary tumor growth at 3.5 weeks of treatment with 50 mg/kg of CTCE-9908 (p = 0.005). Expression levels of VEGF were also found to be reduced by 42% with CTCE-9908 (p = 0.01). In combination with docetaxel, CTCE-9908 administration decreased tumor volume by 38% (p = 0.02), an effect that was greater than that observed with docetaxel alone. In combination with DC101, CTCE-9908 also demonstrated an enhanced effect compared to DC101 alone, with a 37% decrease in primary tumor volume (p = 0.01) and a 75% reduction in distant metastasis (p = 0.009). In combination with docetaxel or an anti-angiogenic agent, the anti-tumor and anti-metastatic effects of CTCE-9908 were markedly enhanced, suggesting potentially new effective combinatorial therapeutic strategies in the treatment of breast cancer, which include targeting the SDF-1/CXCR4 ligand/receptor pair.