Design of hydrogels to stabilize and enhance bone morphogenetic protein activity by heparin mimetics

Although bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is known to be the most potent stimulator available for bone formation, a major barrier to widespread clinical use is its inherent instability and absence of an adequate delivery system. Heparin is being widely used in controlled release systems due to its strong binding ability and protective effect for many growth factor proteins. In this work, we developed a hydrogel surface that can mimic heparin to stabilize BMP-2 and to enhance osteogenesis by introducing heparin-mimicking sulfonated molecules such as poly-vinylsulfonic acid (PVSA) or poly-4-styrenesulfonic acid (PSS), into photo-crosslinkable hydrogel. Bioactivity of BMP-2 was well preserved in the presence of polysulfonates during exposure to various therapeutically relevant stressors. The heparin-mimicking sulfonated hydrogels were effective to bind BMP-2 compared to unmodified MeGC hydrogel and significantly enhanced osteogenic differentiation of encapsulated bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) without the addition of exogenous BMP-2. The sulfonated hydrogels were effective in delivering exogenous BMP-2 with reduced initial burst and increased BMSCs osteogenesis induced by BMP-2. These findings suggest a novel hydrogel platform for sequestering and stabilizing BMP-2 to enhance osteoinductive activity in bone tissue engineering.Statement of significanceAlthough bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is believed to be the most potent cytokine for bone regeneration, its clinical applications require supraphysiological BMP dosage due to its intrinsic instability and fast enzymatic degradation, leading to worrisome side effects. This study demonstrates a novel hydrogel platform that mimics a natural protector of BMPs, heparin, to sequester and stabilize BMP-2 for increased osteoinductive signaling. This study will achieve the stabilization of BMPs with prolonged bioactivity by a synthetic heparin mimic that has not been examined previously. Moreover, the heparin mimetic hydrogel surface can augment endogenous BMP activity by sequestering and localizing the cell-produced BMPs. The additional knowledge gained from this study may suggest basis for future development of material-based therapeutics for tissue engineering