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Acevedo-Jake A, Shi S, Siddiqui Z, Sanyal S, Schur R, Kaja S, Yuan A, Kumar VA. Preclinical Efficacy of Pro- and Anti-Angiogenic Peptide Hydrogels to Treat Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Bioengineering (Basel) 2021; 8:190. [PMID: 34940343 PMCID: PMC8698576 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering8120190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2021] [Revised: 11/20/2021] [Accepted: 11/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic peptide hydrogels were evaluated against the standard of care wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) therapy, Aflibercept (Eylea®). AMD was modeled in rats (laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) model), where the contralateral eye served as the control. After administration of therapeutics, vasculature was monitored for 14 days to evaluate leakiness. Rats were treated with either a low or high concentration of anti-angiogenic peptide hydrogel (0.02 wt% 8 rats, 0.2 wt% 6 rats), or a pro-angiogenic peptide hydrogel (1.0 wt% 7 rats). As controls, six rats were treated with commercially available Aflibercept and six with sucrose solution (vehicle control). Post lasering, efficacy was determined over 14 days via fluorescein angiography (FA) and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Before and after treatment, the average areas of vascular leak per lesion were evaluated as well as the overall vessel leakiness. Unexpectedly, treatment with pro-angiogenic peptide hydrogel showed significant, immediate improvement in reducing vascular leak; in the short term, the pro-angiogenic peptide performed better than anti-angiogenic peptide hydrogel and was comparable to Aflibercept. After 14 days, both the pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic peptide hydrogels show a trend of improvement, comparable to Aflibercept. Based on our results, both anti-angiogenic and pro-angiogenic peptide hydrogels may prove good therapeutics in the future to treat wet AMD over a longer-term treatment period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Acevedo-Jake
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; (A.A.-J.); (Z.S.)
| | - Siyu Shi
- Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;
| | - Zain Siddiqui
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; (A.A.-J.); (Z.S.)
| | - Sreya Sanyal
- Department of Biology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA;
| | - Rebecca Schur
- Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA; (R.S.); (A.Y.)
| | - Simon Kaja
- Research & Development Division, Experimentica Ltd., 70211 Kuopio, Finland;
- Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL 60153, USA
| | - Alex Yuan
- Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA; (R.S.); (A.Y.)
| | - Vivek A. Kumar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; (A.A.-J.); (Z.S.)
- Department of Biology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA;
- Department of Chemical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
- Department of Restorative Dentistry, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
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Siddiqui Z, Sarkar B, Kim KK, Kumar A, Paul R, Mahajan A, Grasman JM, Yang J, Kumar VA. Self-assembling Peptide Hydrogels Facilitate Vascularization in Two-Component Scaffolds. Chem Eng J 2021; 422:130145. [PMID: 34054331 PMCID: PMC8158327 DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2021.130145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
One of the major constraints against using polymeric scaffolds as tissue-regenerative matrices is a lack of adequate implant vascularization. Self-assembling peptide hydrogels can sequester small molecules and biological macromolecules, and they can support infiltrating cells in vivo. Here we demonstrate the ability of self-assembling peptide hydrogels to facilitate angiogenic sprouting into polymeric scaffolds after subcutaneous implantation. We constructed two-component scaffolds that incorporated microporous polymeric scaffolds and viscoelastic nanoporous peptide hydrogels. Nanofibrous hydrogels modified the biocompatibility and vascular integration of polymeric scaffolds with microscopic pores (pore diameters: 100-250 μm). In spite of similar amphiphilic sequences, charges, secondary structures, and supramolecular nanostructures, two soft hydrogels studied herein had different abilities to aid implant vascularization, but had similar levels of cellular infiltration. The functional difference of the peptide hydrogels was predicted by the difference in the bioactive moieties inserted into the primary sequences of the peptide monomers. Our study highlights the utility of soft supramolecular hydrogels to facilitate host-implant integration and control implant vascularization in biodegradable polyester scaffolds in vivo. Our study provides useful tools in designing multi-component regenerative scaffolds that recapitulate vascularized architectures of native tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zain Siddiqui
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Biplab Sarkar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Ka Kyung Kim
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Arjun Kumar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Reshma Paul
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Aryan Mahajan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Jonathan M. Grasman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Jian Yang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huck Institutes of The Life Sciences, Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Vivek A. Kumar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
- Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
- Department of Restorative Dentistry, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, Newark, NJ, USA
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