Coronary and peripheral arterial diseases are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the US and worldwide. Principal treatments include bypass graft surgery and catheter-based procedures to open blockages (angioplasty). Angioplasty and cardiovascular surgery are also widely employed to maintain venous access for dialysis and to repair congenital cardiovascular malformations. In all cases, stenosis, fibrosis, and vessel failur are significant post-procedure problems with nearly 50% of autologous vein grafts used in peripheral or coronary artery bypass surgery failing over time due to maladaptive vessel remodeling. Vessel failures are driven to a large extent by cellular responses elicited by tissue injury during manipulation and by altered hemodynamic stresses after the re-establishment of circulation. Of principal concern, maladaptive cascades initiated by adventitial fibroblasts (AFs) residing in the exterior portion of at-risk vessels are now widely recognized as major contributors to pathogenesis in grafted and manipulated vessels. Instructive biomaterials that attenuate maladaptive cellular responses of AFs, encourage adaptation to altered hemodynamic conditions, and provide cellular material for populating a healthy neo-adventitium and vaso vasorum would have significant clinical impact resulting in decreased procedure failure rates and a potential increase in the ability to use pre-treated autologous vessels for transplantation. We thus seek to develop injectable, PEG-based polymeric biomaterials that can be placed along the exterior of at-risk vessels either prior to or just after manipulation, as a facile clinial intervention to beneficially influence AF responses and vessel remodeling. Based on extensive preliminary data indicating our ability to guide AF phenotypes with materials strategies, our three aims are to (i) determine in detail the effects of hydrogel mechanical properties on adventitial cell phenotype, (ii) evaluate the effects of critical cell signaling molecules co-delivered to cells by hydrogels, and (iii) assess the effects of hydrogels placed on target vessels in an animal model. Improving our understanding of the central mechanisms that drive adventitial cell phenotype will afford instructive materials that can reduce stenosis, attenuate fibrosis, and encourage formation of healthy vasa vasorum to improve outcomes after vascular procedures.

Public Health Relevance

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the US and worldwide. Current treatments are hampered by a lack of control over maladaptive responses in blood vessels. We seek to develop advanced materials that will reduce these maladaptive responses and encourage healthy healing. Such materials would have significant clinical impact by decreasing post-procedure vessel failure and by increasing the number of vessels available for grafting.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01HL108110-01A1
Application #
8439601
Study Section
Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Sciences Study Section (BTSS)
Program Officer
Reid, Diane M
Project Start
2013-06-17
Project End
2017-05-31
Budget Start
2013-06-17
Budget End
2014-05-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$350,237
Indirect Cost
$66,827
Name
Alfred I. Du Pont Hosp for Children
Department
Type
DUNS #
038004941
City
Wilmington
State
DE
Country
United States
Zip Code
19803
Garcia Garcia, Cristobal; Kiick, Kristi L (2018) Methods for producing microstructured hydrogels for targeted applications in biology. Acta Biomater :
Robinson, Karyn G; Scott, Rebecca A; Hesek, Anne M et al. (2017) Reduced arterial elasticity due to surgical skeletonization is ameliorated by abluminal PEG hydrogel. Bioeng Transl Med 2:222-232
Scott, Rebecca A; Kharkar, Prathamesh M; Kiick, Kristi L et al. (2017) Aortic adventitial fibroblast sensitivity to mitogen activated protein kinase inhibitors depends on substrate stiffness. Biomaterials 137:1-10
Liang, Yingkai; Li, Linqing; Scott, Rebecca A et al. (2017) Polymeric Biomaterials: Diverse Functions Enabled by Advances in Macromolecular Chemistry. Macromolecules 50:483-502
Greco, Chad T; Akins, Robert E; Epps 3rd, Thomas H et al. (2017) Attenuation of Maladaptive Responses in Aortic Adventitial Fibroblasts through Stimuli-Triggered siRNA Release from Lipid-Polymer Nanocomplexes. Adv Biosyst 1:
McGann, Christopher L; Akins, Robert E; Kiick, Kristi L (2016) Resilin-PEG Hybrid Hydrogels Yield Degradable Elastomeric Scaffolds with Heterogeneous Microstructure. Biomacromolecules 17:128-40
Robbins, Alan K; Mateson, Abigail B; Khandha, Ashutosh et al. (2016) Fetal Rat Gubernaculum Mesenchymal Cells Adopt Myogenic and Myofibroblast-Like Phenotypes. J Urol 196:270-8
McGann, Christopher L; Dumm, Rebekah E; Jurusik, Anna K et al. (2016) Thiol-ene Photocrosslinking of Cytocompatible Resilin-Like Polypeptide-PEG Hydrogels. Macromol Biosci 16:129-38
Lau, Hang Kuen; Kiick, Kristi L (2015) Opportunities for multicomponent hybrid hydrogels in biomedical applications. Biomacromolecules 16:28-42
Mahadevaiah, Shruthi; Robinson, Karyn G; Kharkar, Prathamesh M et al. (2015) Decreasing matrix modulus of PEG hydrogels induces a vascular phenotype in human cord blood stem cells. Biomaterials 62:24-34

Showing the most recent 10 out of 11 publications