Non-healing bone defects present tremendous socioeconomic costs. Although successful in some clinical settings, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) therapies require supraphysiological dose delivery for bone repair, raising treatment costs and risks of complications. We engineered a protease-degradable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) synthetic hydrogel functionalized with a triple helical, α2β1 integrin-specific peptide (GFOGER) as a BMP-2 delivery vehicle. GFOGER-functionalized hydrogels lacking BMP-2 directed human stem cell differentiation and produced significant enhancements in bone repair within a critical-sized bone defect compared to RGD hydrogels or empty defects. GFOGER functionalization was crucial to the BMP-2-dependent healing response. Importantly, these engineered hydrogels outperformed the current clinical carrier in repairing non-healing bone defects at low BMP-2 doses. GFOGER hydrogels provided sustained in vivo release of encapsulated BMP-2, increased osteoprogenitor localization in the defect site, enhanced bone formation and induced defect bridging and mechanically robust healing at low BMP-2 doses which stimulated almost no bone regeneration when delivered from collagen sponges. These findings demonstrate that GFOGER hydrogels promote bone regeneration in challenging defects with low delivered BMP-2 doses and represent an effective delivery vehicle for protein therapeutics with translational potential.

Stem cell therapies are limited by poor cell survival and engraftment. A hurdle to the use of materials for cell delivery is the lack of understanding of material properties that govern transplanted stem cell functionality. Here, we show that synthetic hydrogels presenting integrin-specific peptides enhance the survival, persistence, and osteo-reparative functions of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) transplanted in murine bone defects. Integrin-specific hydrogels regulate hMSC adhesion, paracrine signaling, and osteoblastic differentiation in vitro. Hydrogels presenting GFOGER, a peptide targeting α2β1 integrin, prolong hMSC survival and engraftment in a segmental bone defect and result in improved bone repair compared to other peptides. Integrin-specific hydrogels have diverse pleiotropic effects on hMSC reparative activities, modulating in vitro cytokine secretion and in vivo gene expression for effectors associated with inflammation, vascularization, and bone formation. These results demonstrate that integrin-specific hydrogels improve tissue healing by directing hMSC survival, engraftment, and reparative activities.

Vascularization of bone defects is considered a crucial component to the successful regeneration of large bone defects. Although vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been delivered to critical-size bone defect models to augment blood vessel infiltration into the defect area, its potential to increase bone repair remains ambiguous. In this study, we investigated whether integrin-specific biomaterials modulate the effects of VEGF on bone regeneration. We engineered protease-degradable, VEGF-loaded polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels functionalized with either a triple-helical, α2β1 integrin-specific peptide (GFOGER) or an αvβ3 integrin-targeting peptide (RGD). Covalent incorporation of VEGF into the PEG hydrogel allowed for protease degradation-dependent release of the protein while maintaining VEGF bioactivity. When applied to critical-size segmental defects in the murine radius, GFOGER-functionalized VEGF-free hydrogels exhibited significantly increased vascular volume and density and resulted in a larger number of thicker blood vessels compared to RGD-functionalized VEGF-free hydrogels. VEGF-loaded RGD hydrogels increased vascularization compared to VEGF-free RGD hydrogels, but the levels of vascularization for these VEGF-containing RGD hydrogels were similar to those of VEGF-free GFOGER hydrogels. VEGF transiently increased bone regeneration in RGD hydrogels but had no effect at later time points. In GFOGER hydrogels, VEGF did not show an effect on bone regeneration. However, VEGF-free GFOGER hydrogels resulted in increased bone regeneration compared to VEGF-free RGD hydrogels. These findings demonstrate the importance of integrin-specificity in engineering constructs for vascularization and associated bone regeneration.

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Plant viruses have been highlighted among material research due to their well-defined structures in nanoscale, monodispersity, stability, and chemical functionalities. Each of the thousands coat protein subunits on a viral nanoparticle can be homogeneously modified, chemically and genetically, with a functional ligand leading to a high-density and spatial distribution of ligands on each particle (multivalency). Previous reports from our group have evidenced that substrates coated with Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and its mutant promote early osteogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). We then fabricated a three-dimensional (3D) biopolymeric scaffold with rod-like TMV in the form of a sponge-like hydrogel for tissue engineering purposes. The hydrogel was functionalized with the cellular recognition peptide, arginine−glycine−aspartic acid (RGD), through an incorporation of an RGD mutant of TMV (TMV-RGD). The virusfunctionalized hydrogel materials were shown to aid bone differentiation of MSCs in vitro. Herein, we performed an in vivo study based on the TMV and TMV-RGD hydrogels in Sprague−Dawley rats with cranial bone defects. This report substantiated the hypothesis that TMV-functionalized hydrogel scaffolds did not cause systemic toxicity when implanted in the defect site and that the TMV-based hydrogel platform can support cell localization and can be further optimized for bone regeneration and repair.