Adsorption of Treponema Pallidum Protein to Functionalized Alkanethiol Self-Assembled Monolayers for Improving Biocompatibility

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This award to University of Kentucky by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research is to study the use of antigenic protein disguise to create biocompatible surfaces on blood-contacting medical devices. Clinical uses of blood-contacting devices are becoming more common. While many of these devices have been successfully used in patients for many years and are judged to be therapeutically beneficial, their performance is less than optimal. Upon implantation, some of these devices become completely coated with proteins and lead to formation of thrombi, which can cause significant problems. With this award, the PI will study binding of a bacterial protein called Tp0483 with human plasma fibronectin to create a hemocompatible surface by utilizing this as an antigenic disguise. The overall objective of this investigation is to study surface modifications by bacterial proteins called Tp0483, which as antigenic protein disguise may have potential applications in hemocompatible surfaces and systems. Earlier studies have shown that this bacterial protein binds with soluble dimeric fibronectin and the bound fibronectin serves an antigenic disguise for the bacterium. In this study, Tp0483 will be adsorbed to surfaces using self-assembled monolayer and the adsorption of fibronectin (FN) and a fibronectin fragment FN 7-10 will be investigated using surface plasmon resonance. In addition, the mechanism of adsorption of the FN and FN 7-10 to the Tp0483 will be studied using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to determine binding strength of these proteins.Earlier, many different approaches have been used to create blood-compatible surfaces and while these processes have been shown to improve blood-compatibility, the creation of a wholly hemocompatible surface has, thus far, been unachievable. In this study, antigenic disguise will be used to create hemocompatible surfaces on implantable medical devices, and if successful, would have high impact in the use of these devices. In addition, information obtained on mechanisms of fibronectin binding to the bacterial protein TP0483 will provide a better understanding as to how the bacteria uses this protein for antigenic disguise. While this study focuses specifically on using the protein, Tp0483 for improving compatibility of blood-contacting materials, the results will form the basis for future studies where other naturally occurring proteins known for antigenic disguise can be studied. This award will provide graduate, undergraduate and high school students will opportunity to participate in this research and receive multidisciplinary training in engineering and materials science.