Immune-Instructive Polymers Control Macrophage Phenotype and Modulate the Foreign Body Response In Vivo

Abstract

Implantation of medical devices can result in inflammation. A large library of polymers is screened, and a selection found to promote macrophage differentiation towards pro-or anti-inflammatory phenotypes. The bioinstructive properties of these materials are validated within a rodent model. By identifying novel materials with immune-instructive properties, the relationship between material-immune cell interactions could be investigated, and this offers exciting possibilities to design novel bioinstructive materials that can be used for numerous clinical applications including medical implants.

Controlling Experimental Parameters to Improve Characterization of Biomaterial Fouling

“…To minimize proinflammatory polarization of immune cells, implantable biomaterials are now being designed to promote anti-inflammatory polarizations. To this end, a high-throughput method for non-specific protein adsorption alongside macrophage adhesion and polarization, a component of inflammation (Brown et al, 2012), was developed using microprinted polymer spot arrays (Rostam et al, 2020). Polymer spot microarrays were assayed for cell attachment and macrophage polarization by microscopy and calprotectin/mannose receptor staining.…”

Dealing with the Foreign‐Body Response to Implanted Biomaterials: Strategies and Applications of New Materials

“…[ 279 ] Thus, specific chemical structure may have a profound effect on the regulation of the FBR, and other studies have also shown that different chemical modification will affect the polarization of macrophage phenotypes. [ 280,281 ] However, not all alginate microspheres with triazole structure have anti‐inflammatory property, which inferred that other chemical groups in these alginate derivatives will also affect inflammatory response and the FBR. The relationship between triazole groups and inflammatory response needs more in‐depth study.…”

Shifting Gears in Biomaterials Discovery

“…While the coronavirus is being combated with unified forces, a slower, silent revolution is taking place that will affect the health of even more people; the article by Rostam and co-workers in this issue of Matter is a feat of that. 1 Smart medical implants play an increasingly important role in human health care, and many unmet clinical challenges can be solved using biomaterials. But the proper interaction of the inorganic material surface with the biological system is of utmost importance for the success of the implant.…”

“… 8 A huge challenge specific for biomaterial engineering is that we need to bridge the complexity of both biology and materials science and want to have predictive models of it that hold not only at the cell but also at the tissue and organism level. For such a challenge, you need a well-stocked expedition and the expedition headed by Rostam and co-workers, 1 described in this issue of Matter was impressive. It was able to take all steps from material engineering, macrophage screening, data modeling, and testing the materials in an animal model.…”

“…Rostam and co-workers have taken photos of an estimated 150,000 macrophages. 1 The expression of M1 and M2 markers is known for each macrophage but also the shape of the cells, the shape of the nucleus, the intensity of DNA staining, how well they adhere to 540 different materials, and the expression of 150 proteins for 8 surfaces. Think of all the hypotheses you can test with this dataset!…”