Assembly of functionalized silk together with cells to obtain proliferative 3D cultures integrated in a network of ECM-like microfibers.

ABSTRACT: Tissues are built of cells integrated in an extracellular matrix (ECM) which provides a three-dimensional (3D) microfiber network with specific sites for cell anchorage. By genetic engineering, motifs from the ECM can be functionally fused to recombinant silk proteins. Such a silk protein, FN-silk, which harbours a motif from fibronectin, has the ability to self-assemble into networks of microfibers under physiological-like conditions. Herein we describe a method by which mammalian cells are added to the silk solution before assembly, and thereby get uniformly integrated between the formed microfibers. In the resulting 3D scaffold, the cells are highly proliferative and spread out more efficiently than when encapsulated in a hydrogel. Elongated cells containing filamentous actin and define

SUBMITTER: Johansson U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6472362 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature