The discovery of natural adhesion phenomena and mechanisms has advanced the development of a new generation of tissue adhesives in recent decades. In this study, we develop a natural biological adhesive from snail mucus gel, which consists a network of positively charged protein and polyanionic glycosaminoglycan. The malleable bulk adhesive matrix can adhere to wet tissue through multiple interactions. The biomaterial exhibits excellent haemostatic activity, biocompatibility and biodegradability, and it is effective in accelerating the healing of full-thickness skin wounds in both normal and diabetic male rats. Further mechanistic study shows it effectively promotes the polarization of macrophages towards the anti-inflammatory phenotype, alleviates inflammation in chronic wounds, and significantly improves epithelial regeneration and angiogenesis. Its abundant heparin-like glycosaminoglycan component is the main active ingredient. These findings provide theoretical and material insights into bio-inspired tissue adhesives and bioengineered scaffold designs.
A new lipid system broadening the capacity of antigen carriage, including mRNA and protein, is established, and an assembled virus-like-structure (VLS) encapsulated mRNA of S1 protein from XBB.1 and loaded S1 protein from omicron BA.1 on the surface is identified. This characterized VLS enables to specifically augment mRNA expression in human respiratory epithelial cells and macrophages via its loaded S1 protein on the surface interacting with ACE2 or DC-SIGN molecules of cells. It also archives effective mRNA expression in mouse dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages via surface S1 protein binding to DC-SIGN molecules followed by the activation of DCs and macrophages in mice. The intensive antibody response against viral variants in Balb/c mice immunized by VLS was observed to be greater than those immunized by mRNA or protein vaccine alone, while ACE+/+ mice and hamsters immunized with VLS were observed to be more effective for restraining viral replication of the Omicron or Wuhan strain challenge. The mechanism of this robust immunity elicited by VLS was found being involved in the integrated effect of diverse signals from activated innate immunity to the adaptive immune system.
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