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  • Coassembled nanostructured ...
    Li, Rui; Pavuluri, Sivapriya; Bruggeman, Kiara; Long, Benjamin M; Parnell, Andrew J; Martel, Anne; Parnell, Steven R; Pfeffer, Frederick M; Dennison, Andrew J.C; Nicholas, Kevin R; Barrow, Colin J; Nisbet, David R; Williams, Richard J

    Nanomedicine, 07/2016, Volume: 12, Issue: 5
    Journal Article

    Abstract The local inflammatory environment of the cell promotes the growth of epithelial cancers. Therefore, controlling inflammation locally using a material in a sustained, non-steroidal fashion can effectively kill malignant cells without significant damage to surrounding healthy cells. A promising class of materials for such applications are the nanostructured scaffolds formed by epitope containing minimalist self-assembled peptides (SAPs), as they are bioactive on a cellular length scale, while presenting as an easily handled hydrogel. Here, we show that the assembly process distributes an anti-inflammatory polysaccharide, fuccoidan, localized to the nanofibers to function as an anti-inflammatory biomaterial for cancer therapy. We show that it supports healthy cells, while inducing apoptosis in cancerous endothelial cells, as demonstrated by the downregulation of the proinflammatory gene and protein expression pathways associated with epithelial cancer progression. Our findings highlight an innovative material approach with potential applications as local epithelial cancer immunotherapy and drug delivery vehicles.