PEG/HA Hybrid Hydrogels for Biologically and Mechanically Tailorable Bone Marrow Organoids

Biomaterial is a special functional material, which has important application value in the field of medical and health. It is divided into two categories: natural biomaterial and synthetic. Among them, hydrogel is a typical synthetic biological material, which is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of cells, tissues and organs, replacement repair or induced regeneration.

Recently, a scientific research team at the University of Zurich in Switzerland has developed a new type of hydrogel TG-PEG / HA hybrid hydrogel, which can be used to form bone marrow analogs, which is conducive to the study of the versatility of biochemical and biophysical properties regulating bone marrow function Related research results were published in the journal "Advanced Functional Materials".

In the study, the researchers proposed a transglutaminase (TG) crosslinked system that seamlessly incorporates poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hyaluronic acid (HA) into hybrid hydrogels for the formation of BM analogues is presented.

By combining features of PEG and HA, these novel biomaterials are tunable to optimize their physical and biological properties for BM organoid formation. Utility of the TG‐PEG/HA hybrid hydrogels to maintain, expand, or differentiate human bone marrow‐derived stromal cells and human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in vitro is demonstrated. Even more compelling, TG‐PEG/HA hybrid hydrogels are superior to currently used natural biomaterials in forming humanized BM organoids in a xenograft model. Hybrid hydrogels in comparison to pure PEG or pure HA afford the ideal attributes of both regarding material handling, structural integrity, and minimizing macrophage infiltration in vivo. By combining features of PEG and HA, these novel biomaterials are tunable to optimize their physical and biological properties for BM organoid formation.

In addition, the researchers proved that utility of the TG‐PEG/HA hybrid hydrogels to maintain, expand, or differentiate human bone marrow‐derived stromal cells and human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in vitro is demonstrated. Even more compelling, TG‐PEG/HA hybrid hydrogels are superior to currently used natural biomaterials in forming humanized BM organoids in a xenograft model. Hybrid hydrogels in comparison to pure PEG or pure HA afford the ideal attributes of both regarding material handling, structural integrity, and minimizing macrophage infiltration in vivo.

The emergence of this biomaterial can be used for biological and mechanical customized bone marrow organoids, providing an effective tool for studying the interaction between bone marrow microenvironment and resident cells, as well as the biochemical and biological characteristics of bone marrow function.

References: Queralt Vallmajo-Martin, Nicolas Broguiere, Christopher Millan, etal. PEG / HA Hybrid Hydrogels for Biologically and Mechanically Tailorable Bone Marrow Organoids [J] Advanced Functional Materials, 2020.DOI: 10.1002 / adfm.201910282