Mitigation of Blood Borne Cell Attachment to Metal Implants through CD47-Derived Peptide Immobilization

Summary

Presented here is a protocol for appending peptide CD47 (pepCD47) to metal stents using polybisphosphonate chemistry. Functionalization of metal stents using pepCD47 prevents the attachment and activation of inflammatory cells thus improving their biocompatibility.

Abstract

The key complications associated with bare metal stents and drug eluting stents are in-stent restenosis and late stent thrombosis, respectively. Thus, improving the biocompatibility of metal stents remains a significant challenge. The goal of this protocol is to describe a robust technique of metal surface modification by biologically active peptides to increase biocompatibility of blood contacting medical implants, including endovascular stents. CD47 is an immunological species-specific marker of self and has anti-inflammatory properties. Studies have shown that a 22 amino acid peptide corresponding to the Ig domain of CD47 in the extracellular region (pepCD47), has anti-inflammatory properties like the full-length protein. In vivo studies in rats, and ex vivo studies in rabbit and human blood experimental systems from our lab have demonstrated that pepCD47 immobilization on metals improves their biocompatibility by preventing inflammatory cell attachment and activation. This paper describes the step-by step protocol for the functionalization of metal surfaces and peptide attachment. The metal surfaces are modified using polyallylamine bisphosphate with latent thiol groups (PABT) followed by deprotection of thiols and amplification of thiol-reactive sites via reaction with polyethyleneimine installed with pyridyldithio groups (PEI-PDT). Finally, pepCD47, incorporating terminal cysteine residues connected to the core peptide sequence through a dual 8-amino-3,6-dioxa-octanoyl spacer, are attached to the metal surface via disulfide bonds. This methodology of peptide attachment to metal surface is efficient and relatively inexpensive and thus can be applied to improve biocompatibility of several metallic biomaterials.

Introduction

Percutaneous coronary intervention is the first line of therapy to treat coronary artery diseases (CAD) and primarily involves stenting the diseased arteries. However, in-stent restenosis (ISR) and stent thrombosis are common complications associated with stent deployment¹. Blood interaction at the blood-stent interface is characterized by an almost immediate adsorption of plasma proteins on the metal surface, followed by platelet and inflammatory cell attachment and activation². The release of the inflammatory cytokines and chemokines from activated inflammatory cells leads to the phenotypic modification of the vascular....

Protocol

All human samples for this experiment were obtained in accordance with the IRB of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. All animal experiments were performed upon approval from IACUC of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

1. Coating bare metal surfaces with PEI-PDT

1. Wash the stainless steel foil coupons (1 cm x 1 cm or 0.65 cm x 1 cm) or stainless steel mesh disks with 2-isopropanol  in a shaker (60 °C, speed of 200 rpm) for 5 min. Perform this step 2x. Then wash 2x with chloroform (60 °C, speed of 200 rpm) for 10 min each.
2. Place the cleansed stainless-steel samples in....

Results

The metal surfaces are rendered thiol-reactive for peptide attachment via a series of chemical modifications, as illustrated in Figure 1. PABT incubation followed by PEI-PDT treatment makes the metal surface amenable for peptide attachment. Peptide CD47 (pepCD47) containing cysteine residue at C-terminus joined to the core pepCD47 sequence through a flexible dual AEEAc bridge is covalently attached to the thiol-reactive surfaces via disulfide bonds. Using this protocol, we have demonstrated .......

Discussion

We demonstrate and describe a relatively novel chemical strategy to append therapeutic peptide moieties to a stainless-steel surface with the overarching goal of reducing the surface’s reactivity with inflammatory cells found in blood. The bisphosphonate chemistry described herein involves co-ordinate bond formation between the metal oxides and bisphosphonate groups of PABT. The thickness of polybisphosphonate monolayer formed on the metal surface does not exceed 5 nm¹⁸, and, therefore, is i.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1 M Tris-HCL	Invitrogen	15567-027	pH - 7.5
4% Glutaraldehyde	Electron Microscopy Sciences	16539-07
4% Sodium Citrate	Sigma	S5770
ACK lysing buffer	Quality Biologicals	118-156-721
anti-CD45RA Ab (mouse anti-rat; clone OX-19)	Biolegend	202301
anti-CD5 Ab (mouse anti-rat; clone OX-19)	Biolegend	203501
anti-CD6 Ab (mouse anti-rat; clone OX-52)	BD Biosciences	550979
anti-CD68 Ab (mouse anti-rat; clone ED-1)	BioRad	MCA341
anti-CD8a Ab (mouse anti-rat; clone OX-8)	Biolegend	201701
Chloroform Certified ACS	Fisher Chemical	C298-500
Dimethyl Formammide (DMF)	Alfa Aesar	39117
Embra stainless steel grid	Electron Microscopy Sciences	E200-SS	stainless steel mesh mesh disks
Ficoll Hypaque	GE Healthcare	17-1440-02
Glacial acetic acid	ACROS organic	148930025
goat anti-mouse IgG Alexa Fluor	ThermoFisher	A11030
Heparin sodium	Sagent Pharmaceuticals	402-01
Human pepCD47	Bachem	4099101
Isopropanol	Fisher Chemical	A426P-4
Metal adapters	Leur Fitting	6515IND	1 way adapter 316 ss 1/4"-5/16" hoes end
Methanol	RICCA chemical company	4829-32
Microscope	Nikon Eclipse	TE300
Phosphate buffered saline (PBS)	Gibco	14190-136
Pottasium Bicarbonate (KHCO3)	Fisher Chemical	P184-500
PVC tubes	Terumo-CVS	60050	1/4" X 1/16 8'
sodium cacodylate buffer with 0.1M sodium chloride	Electron Microscopy Sciences	11653
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS)	Bio-Rad laboratories	161-0302
Sodum actetate (C2H3NaO2)	Alfa Aesar	A13184
Src peptide	Bachem	4092599
Stainless steel (AISI 304) cylinder-shaped samples with a lumen	Microgroup, Medway, MA	20097328	1 cm X 6 mm OD
Stainless steel foils (AISI 316L)	Goodfellow, Coraopolis, PA		100 mm X 100 mm X 0.05 mm
Tetramethylrhodamine-conjugated pepCD47 (TAMRA-pepCD47)	Bachem	4100277
TMB (3,3’ ,5,5’ -tetramethylbenzidine) substrate and tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine hydrochloride (TCEP)	Thermo Scientific	PG82089
Tween-20	Bio-Rad laboratories	170-6531
Vybrant CFDA SE Cell Tracer Kit	Invitrogen	V12883