Use of protein-engineered fabrics to identify design rules for integrin ligand clustering in biomaterials.

ABSTRACT: While ligand clustering is known to enhance integrin activation, this insight has been difficult to apply to the design of implantable biomaterials because the local and global ligand densities that enable clustering-enhanced integrin signaling were unpredictable. Here, two general design principles for biomaterial ligand clustering are elucidated. First, clustering ligands enhances integrin-dependent signals when the global ligand density, i.e., the ligand density across the cellular length scale, is near the ligand's effective dissociation constant (KD,eff). Second, clustering ligands enhances integrin activation when the local ligand density, i.e., the ligand density across the length scale of individual focal adhesions, is less than an overcrowding threshold. To identify these principl

SUBMITTER: Benitez PL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4771524 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature