Antigen-Antibody Interaction-Derived Bioadhesion of Bacterial Cellulose Nanofibers to Promote Topical Wound Healing

Abstract

A practically helpful bioadhesion system can be developed for biomedical treatments by taking advantage of the antigen–antibody interaction in which an antibody binds to a protein with specific lock and key binding affinity. This study presents a new type of skin tissue adhesive system in which an involucrin antibody (SY5)-conjugated bacterial cellulose nanofiber (BCNF) is bound to involucrin (IVL) in corneocytes of the stratum corneum. For this, the SY5 is covalently incorporated on the surface of carboxylate of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-oxidized BCNFs via the 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC)/N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) coupling reaction. It is shown that the SY5-conjugated BCNF (BCNFSY5) exhibits the antigen–antibody interaction with the IVL, eventually leading to effective adhesion to the skin surface. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the BCNF-based skin adhesion promotes wound healing by basically providing a tissue environment where cell proliferation can occur actively. These results emphasize that the BCNFSY5 system could pave the way for developing a new type of tissue adhesive for skin tissue regeneration.