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  • We examined the function of immobilised

    2019-07-04

    We examined the function of immobilised THPs by seeding cells transfected with DDR2-Flag on derivatised crosslinked collagen films, then detecting the phosphorylation of tyrosine 740 (Y740) on the intracellular domain of DDR2 [50]. This regulatory residue is a target for the intracellular tyrosine kinase c-Src, and when phosphorylated, Y740 permits the autophosphorylation and activation of DDR2. It is widely used to report DDR2 activation. Immunofluorescence and Western blot experiments allowed us to investigate both DDR2 binding to derivatised films and its activation state. On all collagen films tested (regardless of crosslinking status, peptide and UV treatment), transfected COS-7 cells were found to express similar levels of DDR2-Flag, as expected. Film functionalization with photo-activated THP resulted in significant Y740 phosphorylation after UV exposure, reaching levels similar to those observed on non-crosslinked films. Western blots of HEK293 cell lysates confirmed that anti-Flag and anti-pY740 antibodies specifically bound to DDR2, which appeared as one, two or three bands between 125 and 130 kDa. Meanwhile, although high levels of DDR2 expression were detected on cells incubated on crosslinked collagen films, very little Y740 phosphorylation could be seen. Occasional tyrosine phosphorylation was also observed on films treated with VWFIIINle or Diaz-ES-VWFIIINle without UV, likely due to residual passively-adsorbed peptides. This observation is consistent with our DDR2-Fc binding assay on derivatised films (Fig. 3 B), where passive peptide BIBW2992 accounted for high DDR2-Fc binding. Nevertheless, quantification of DDR2-Flag and phosphorylated DDR2, using both Western blot and immunofluorescence techniques, showed that Diaz-ES-VWFIIINle and UV treatment were both required to restore DDR2 activation on crosslinked films to a level comparable to that seen on native collagen. This result confirms that covalent linkage of DDR2-binding peptides on EDC/NHS crosslinked films can restore receptor binding and promote receptor activation. As we have shown in previous studies, EDC/NHS treatment resulted in a drastic loss of integrin mediated cell adhesion and spreading, which can be restored by grafting Diaz-ES-GFOGER. However, the immunofluorescence experiment presented here was designed to evaluate DDR2 function only and did not investigate integrin activity. Therefore, differences in cell morphology were observed between non-crosslinked films (where cells are spread on the film surface) and 100% crosslinked films derivatised with Diaz-ES-VWFIIINle (where cells remain round). Part of our on-going work is to graft both photoreactive GFOGER and GPRGQOGVNleGFO containing THPs on films, to study the joint effect of peptide targeting integrins and DDR2. This is of particular interest since DDR receptors are known to up-regulate integrin affinity [20]. Together, such cooperative processes may increase further the effects of covalently linked peptides. The experiments described above were conducted using model systems that are easily controlled but lack an immediate application. To develop the field beyond this proof of principle, we applied GPRGQOGVNleGFO-derivatized films to the study of human platelets and endothelial cells, each of which might represent important targets in biomaterial design. First, we studied the binding of VWF, as the recombinant A3 domain and as the full length protein in the setting of whole blood, and its effect on platelet aggregation. In vascular injury, thrombus formation is initiated by the association of platelets with exposed subendothelial collagen via VWF recruited from the blood plasma [30]. VWF is a key component of haemostasis and subsequent blood vessel repair and could play an important role in regenerative medicine or acute surgical applications. Compared to the binding of the A3 domain of VWF, full-length VWF static adhesion assays gave very low signals (data not shown). This was anticipated, since full-length VWF needs sufficiently high shear in order to form multimers and bind efficiently to its ligand [51]. The binding of platelets under flow on derivatised collagen films in the presence of full-length VWF was therefore investigated. Several protein–protein interactions are known to be involved in thrombus formation, including VWF binding to GPRGQOGVMGFO and homologous sequences in the collagens, immobilised VWF binding to platelet GpIb, integrin α2β1 binding to GxOGER motifs and GPVI binding to GPO repeats [21]. To approximate physiological conditions, a shear rate of 1000 s−1 was used for perfusion of whole blood over collagen films, which corresponds to arterial flow conditions. Platelets were selectively marked with DiOC6, a fluorescent dye, allowing us to follow their deposition on collagen films by fluorescence. Extensive platelet aggregation could be detected on non-crosslinked collagen films. In contrast, EDC/NHS crosslinking ablated both VWF and integrin binding, as discussed earlier, resulting in a total loss of platelet adhesion. We assume GPO repeats not to be affected directly by EDC/NHS crosslinking, as recombinant GPVI showed no loss of binding on collagen films crosslinked to various degrees (data not shown).