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Early diagnosis of ongoing malignant disease is crucial to improve survival rate and life quality of the patients and requires sensitive detection of specific biomarkers e.g. prostate-specific antigen (PSA), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), etc. In spite of current technological advances, malignant diseases are still identified in rather late stages, which have detrimental effect on the prognosis and treatment of the disease. Here, we present a biosensor able to detect fetuin-A, a potential multibiomarker. The biosensing platform is based on polymer brush combining antifouling monomer units of N -(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) and carboxybetaine methacrylamide (CBMAA), statistically copolymerized by surfaceinitiated atom transfer radical polymerization. The copolymer poly(HPMA-co-CBMAA) exhibits excellent non-fouling properties in the most relevant biological media (i.e. blood plasma) as well as antithrombogenic surface properties by preventing the adhesion of blood components (i.e. leukocytes; platelets; and erythrocytes). Moreover, the polymer brush can be easily functionalized with biorecognition elements maintaining high resistance to blood fouling and the binding capacity can be regulated by tuning the ratio between CBMAA and HPMA units. The superior antifouling properties of the copolymer even after biofunctionalization were exploited to fabricate a new plasmonic biosensor for the analysis of fetuin-A in real clinical blood plasma samples. The assay used in this work can be explored as labelfree affinity biosensor for diagnostics of different biomarkers in real clinical plasma samples and to shift the early biomarker detection toward novel biosensor technologies allowing point of care analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibrin is a versatile biopolymer that has been extensively used in tissue engineering. In this paper fibrin nanostructures prepared using a technique based on the catalytic effect of fibrin-bound thrombin are presented. This technique enables surface-attached thin fibrin networks to form with precisely regulated morphology without the development of fibrin gel in bulk solution. Moreover, the influence of changing the polymerization time, along with the antithrombin III and heparin concentrations on the morphology of fibrin nanostructures was explored. The binding of bioactive molecules (fibronectin, laminin, collagen, VEGF, bFGF, and heparin) to fibrin nanostructures was confirmed. These nanostructures can be used for the surface modification of artificial biomaterials designed for different biomedical applications (e.g. artificial vessels, stents, heart valves, bone and cartilage constructs, skin grafts, etc.) in order to promote the therapeutic outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the behavior of single proteins at the polyelectrolyte multilayer film/solution interface is of prime importance for the designing of bio-functionalized surface coatings. In the present paper, we study the adsorption of the model proteins, albumin and lysozyme, as well as basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) on a polysaccharide multilayer film composed of quaternized chitosan and heparin. Several analytical methods were used to describe the formation of the polysaccharide film and its interactions with the proteins. Both albumin and lysozyme adsorbed on quaternized chitosan/heparin films, however this process strongly depended on the terminating polysaccharide. Protein adsorption was driven mainly by electrostatic interactions between protein and the terminal layer of the film. The effective binding of FGF-2 by the heparinterminated film suggested that other interactions could also contribute to the adsorption process. We believe that this FGF-2- presenting polysaccharide film may serve as a biofunctional surface coating for biologically-related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular prosthetic bypass grafts do not endothelialize spontaneously in humans, and so they pose a thrombotic risk. Seeding with cells improves their performance, particularly in small-caliber applications. Knitted tubular polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) vascular prostheses (6 mm) with commercial type I collagen (PET/Co) were modified in the lumen by the adsorption of laminin (LM), by coating with a fibrin network (Fb) or a combination of Fb and fibronectin (Fb/FN). Primary human saphenous vein endothelial cells were seeded (1.50 × 105/cm²), cultured for 72 h and exposed to laminar shear stress 15 dyn/cm² for 40 and 120 min. The control static grafts were excluded from shearing. The cell adherence after 4 h on PET/Co, PET/Co +LM, PET/Co +Fb and PET/Co +Fb/FN was 22 %, 30 %, 19 % and 27 % of seeding, respectively. Compared to the static grafts, the cell density on PET/Co and PET/Co +LM dropped to 61 % and 50 %, respectively, after 120 min of flow. The cells on PET/Co +Fb and PET/Co +Fb/FN did not show any detachment during 2 h of shear stress. Pre-coating the clinically-used PET/Co vascular prosthesis with LM or Fb/FN adhesive protein assemblies promotes the adherence of endothelium. Cell retention under flow is improved particularly on fibrin-containing (Fb and Fb/FN) surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]