Designing elastin-like recombinamers for rherapeutic and regenerative purposes

Abstract

Elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) are proteinaceous biopolymers obtained by recombinant technology and which sequence is inspired by natural elastin. Genetic engineering allows total control over amino acid sequence and design of ELR structures in a versatile way that can include bioactive, structural, or functional domains. ELRs can be used as precursors of bioactive and biocompatible hydrogels generated by either physical or chemical interchain cross-linking. This chapter describes ELR-based hydrogels, their principal features, and applications in biomedical field. We focus on the use of these hydrogels as advanced scaffolds mimicking extracellular matrix in tissue engineering, reviewing the most interesting and recent examples of musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, skin, and neural tissue regeneration. Advanced drug delivery devices based on ELRs hydrogels are also reviewed concerning their application in disease therapies, such as type 2 diabetes, ischemia, or glaucoma, and focusing mainly on cancer therapy.