Curable fibrinogen and uses thereof
View Patent ↗Conjugates of fibrinogen and a plurality of curable groups covalently attached thereto, and curable formulations comprising such conjugates, are provided. Also provided are three-dimensional objects (scaffolds) made of the conjugate or the curable formulation, for example, by additive manufacturing, and uses thereof in, for example, tissue healing and/or regeneration.
1 . A conjugate comprising fibrinogen and a plurality of curable groups that can undergo polymerization, entanglement and/or cross-linking when exposed to a curing condition covalently attached to the fibrinogen, the conjugate being devoid of a polymeric moiety, wherein the fibrinogen is denatured fibrinogen.
2 . The conjugate of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion, or all, of the curable groups are photopolymerizable groups.
3 . The conjugate of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion, or all, of the curable groups are (meth)acrylic groups.
4 . The conjugate of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion, or all, of the curable groups are attached to lysine residues of the fibrinogen.
5 . The conjugate of claim 4 , wherein said curable groups are attached to 10 to 100% of the lysine residues of the fibrinogen.
6 . The conjugate of claim 1 , further comprising a labeling agent covalently attached thereto.
7 . A process of preparing the conjugate of claim 1 , the process comprising coupling a compound that features at least one curable group and at least one reactive group to the fibrinogen under conditions that promote formation of a covalent bond between said reactive group and a chemically compatible reactive group of the fibrinogen.
8 . A curable formulation comprising the conjugate of claim 1 and a carrier, the conjugate comprising fibrinogen and a plurality of curable groups that can undergo polymerization, entanglement and/or cross-linking when exposed to a curing condition covalently attached to the fibrinogen, the conjugate being devoid of a polymeric moiety, wherein the fibrinogen is denatured fibrinogen.
9 . The curable formulation of claim 8 , wherein said carrier is an aqueous carrier.
10 . The curable formulation of claim 9 , wherein a concentration of the conjugate in the formulation ranges from 1 to 500, or from 1 to 20, or from 5 to 20, mg/mL.
11 . The curable formulation of claim 8 , wherein said curable groups are photopolymerizable groups, the curable formulation further comprising a photoinitiator.
12 . The curable formulation of claim 8 , further comprising a cross-linking agent.
13 . The curable formulation of claim 12 , wherein an amount of said cross-linking agent ranges from 0.5 to 10% by weight of the total weight of the formulation.
14 . The curable formulation of claim 8 , further comprising a biological material other than said fibrinogen.
15 . The curable formulation of claim 14 , wherein said biological material comprises cells.