Alisa H Isaac, Sarea Y Recalde Phillips, Elizabeth Ruben, Matthew Estes, Varsha Rajavel, Talia Baig, Carol Paleti, Kirsten Landsgaard, Ryang Hwa Lee, Teja Guda, Michael F Criscitiello, Carl Gregory, Daniel L Alge
While poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels are generally regarded as biologically inert blank slates, concerns over PEG immunogenicity are growing, and the implications for tissue engineering are unknown. Here, we investigate these implications by immunizing mice against PEG to stimulate anti-PEG antibody production and evaluating bone defect regeneration after treatment with bone morphogenetic protein-2-loaded PEG hydrogels. Quantitative analysis reveals that PEG sensitization increases bone formation compared to naive controls, whereas histological analysis shows that PEG sensitization induces an abnormally porous bone morphology at the defect site, particularly in males...
April 18, 2024: Nature Communications