Silk-elastin-like polymers

This overview will mainly focus on those polymers found in natural structural proteins, particularly the silk-elastin-like polymers (SELPs) of recombinant DNA technology origin. 

Haider, M., Leung, V., Ferrari, F. et al. (2005) Molecular engineering of silk-elastin-like polymers for matrix-mediated gene delivery Biosynthesis and characterization. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2, 139-150. 

Machado, R., Azevedo-Silva, J., Correia, C. et al. (2013) High level expression and facile purification of recombinant silk-elastin-like polymers in auto induction shake flask cultures. AMB Express, doi 10.1186/2191-0855-3-11... 

Some polymers have been purified on the basis of their physicochemical properties. For example, silk-like polymers have been purified by taking advantage of their low solubility in aqueous medium (13). Elastin-like polymers (ELPs) have been purified by temperature cycling above and below their inverse temperature transition (Tt) (14). This technique has been extended to produce an ELP-tag that can be used to purify a number of recombinant proteins by temperature cycling, which may be faster and less expensive than affinity chromatography (15). 

Future Trends for Recombinant Protein-Based Polymers The Case Study of Development and Application of Silk-Elastin-Like... 

Dandu, R., Von Cresce, A., Briber, R. et al. (2009) Silk-elastin-like protein polymer hydrogels Influence of monomer sequence on physicochemical properties. Polymer, 50, 366-374. 

Hatefi, A., Cappello, J. and Ghandehari, H. (2007) Adenoviral gene delivery to solid tumors by recombinant silk-elastin-like protein polymers. Pharmaceutical Research, 24,773-779. 

Cresce, A. V., Dandu, R., Burger, A. et al. (2008) Characterization and real-time imaging of gene expression of adenovirus embedded silk-elastin-like protein polymer hydrogels. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 5, 891-897. 

Ehnerman, A.A., CappeUo, J., Ghandehari, H. and Hoag, S.W. (2002) Solute diffusion in genetically engineered silk-elastin-like protein polymer hydrogels. Journal of Controlled Release, 82,277-287. 

Ner, Y., Stuart, J.A., Whited, G. and Sotzing, G.A. (2009) Electrospinning nanoribbons of a bioengineered silk-elastin-like protein (SELF) from water. Polymer, 50, 5828-5836. 

Qiu, W, CappeUo, J. and Wu, X. (2011) Autoclaving as a chemical-free process to stabilize recombinant silk-elastin-like protein polymer nanofibers. Applied Physics Letters, 98, doi 10.1063/1.3604786... 

Price, R., Gustafson, J., Greish, K. et al. (2012) Comparison of silk-elastin-like protein polymer hydrogel and poloxamer in matrix-mediated gene deUvery. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 427, 97-104. 

Qiu WG, Teng WB, Cappello JY, Wu X (2009) Wet-spinning of recombinant silk-elastin-like protein polymer fibers with high tensile strength and high deformability. Biomacromolecules 10 602-608... 

A particular kind of materials are the silk-elastin-like protein polymers (SELPs), consisting of the repeating units of silk and elastin blocks, which combine a set of outstanding physical and biological properties of silk and elastin. SELPs can undergo tunable... 

The immunogenicity of SLP-F and SELF copolymers has been evaluated in rabbits. Compared to hyperimmune positive control rabbit sera, the immunogenicity of all pol5rmers was found to be relatively low. In cases where an elevated antibody titer was observed (e.g., against SLP-F), the antibody response was found to be directed only at the silk-like blocks of the polymer. No response was detected against the elastin-like blocks or fibronectin cellular attachment sites (2). 

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