Integrins inspire nanotechnology and biomedical innovations

Inside your cells are tiny proteins called integrins, which act as transmembrane sensors bridging the extracellular matrix with the intracellular cytoskeleton. They are important for orienting cells and communicating information across the membrane. Because they are critical for cell motilities and their response is reactive to environmental cues, they are frequently studied for biomaterial uses.

Hu and Zhang present a review of recent integrin-targeted biomaterial advancements, focusing on how integrins become spatially distributed and regulated by biomaterials. The work highlights the power of both top-down nanofabrication and bottom-up synthesis, especially the molecular assembly in precisely controlling integrin activity.

“In this review, we try to correlate the underlying mechanisms of integrin activity and functionality with the material design. We also summarized the development of nanofabrication and how they served the mechanistic elucidation of integrins,” said coauthor Ye Zhang. “We hope readers from all different fields can be inspired and see the future potentials of integrin as a research subject and target for biomedical innovations.”

While there are 24 different integrins found in the human body, only two have been studied in detail. In the future, the authors believe integrins will be critical in developing mechanomedicines, which could help create new methods for regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and anti-metastasis procedures.

“Deciphering every single integrin isoform via the support of nanotechnologies will be the most exciting part of the future research, not just because of its importance in fundamental biology, but also its influence in biomedical innovations,” Zhang said.

Source: “Developing biomaterials to mediate the spatial distribution of integrins,” by Xunwu Hu and Ye Zhang, Biophysics Review (2021). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0055746 .