Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

Brandon Hong

“Engineering Biocompatible Hydrogels for Ovarian and Cervical Cancer Cell Lines”

Brandon Hong, Zhaoqianqi Feng, Bing Xu
Brandeis / Biochemistry and Chemistry
Hosted by Xu's Lab

Abstract

Biocompatible hydrogels are being looked at as an option to solve many problems in the biomedical field. This article reports on the self-assembling interactions between Chondroitin Sulfate and each of our two molecules, L and D versions of Nap-FFGSRKR. We also report on the biocompatibility that our two molecules have with ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3, OVCAR3, OVCAR4) and a cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). We have found that a hydrogel forms when the L-peptide (0.5 wt %) interacts with Chondroitin Sulfate (0.5 wt %) in vitro at a 1:1 mixture. We have also found that L and D peptides show little cytotoxicity (IC₅₀ values >500 μM for both) and high biocompatibility with all tested cell lines after the first 48 hours. Both peptides, in particular L-peptide, were seen to interact with Chondroitin Sulfate on the membrane of HeLa cells to form self-assemblies on the cellular surface.

Support

SMURF (Summer MRSEC Undergrad Research Fellowship)