SILK-BASED BIOMATERIALS FOR MODULATION OF IMMUNE RESPONSE
Biomaterials have recently been recognized for their potential use in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, since they not only represent a scaff old for cell populations, but also can infl uence functionality of diff erent cell types. In particular silk-based biomaterials (i. e. fibroin or spidroin) are of high interest, because they show prominent mechanistic features and have proregenerative potential. In our work we showed that composite fibroin/gelatin scaff olds induce moderate infl ammation both in vitro and in vivo and this eff ect depends on the configuration of the matrices. In particular, culturing of Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEF) on three-dimensional (3D), but not two-dimensional (2D) fibroin/gelatin scaff olds resulted in overexpression of adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 as well as proinfl ammatory cytokines TNF and IL-6. Moreover subcutaneous injection of fibroin/gelatin microparticles in mice lead to accumulation of infl ammatory myeloid cells and acceleration of skin wound healing, while implantation of 3D fibroin/gelatin scaff olds under the kidney capsule promoted lymphocytes clusterization, resulting in generation of primitive lymphoid tissue. Altogether our data suggest immunomodulatory features of fibroin/gelatin scaff olds, which can be useful in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.