Abstract
Silk fibroin (SF) is considered biocompatible and biodegradable for osteochondral repair. However, it lacks a bioactive domain for cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation, limiting its therapeutic efficacy. To revamp SF as a biomimicking and bioactive microenvironment to regulate cell behaviours, we engineered an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP, Val-Pro-Gly-Xaa-Gly) to modify SF fibers via simple and green dehydrothermal (DHT) treatment. Our results demonstrated that the ELP successfully bound to SF, and the scaffold was reinforced by the fusion of the silk fiber intersections with ELP (S-ELP-DHT) via the DHT treatment. Both bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and chondrocytes exhibited improved spreading and proliferation on the S-ELP-DHT scaffolds. The ex vivo and in vivo experiments further demonstrated enhanced mature bone and cartilage tissue formation using the S-ELP-DHT scaffolds compared to the naked SF scaffolds. These results indicated that a recombinant ELP-modified silk scaffold can mimic three-dimensional (3D) cell microenvironment, and improve bone and cartilage regeneration. We envision that our scaffolds have huge clinical potential for osteochondral repair.