Cell attachment and growth can also be greatly enhanced
with hydrophobin coatings, and both class I hydrophobins
(SC3 and SC4) as well as class II hydrophobins (HFBI) have
been used for this purpose. The growth of fibroblast cells was
promoted on TeflonTM coated with SC3, SC4, or their variants.
Both SC3 and TrSC3 (containing a 25-reside N-terminal truncation)
were not cytotoxic when added to the cell culture up to
125 lg/mL. When SC3 and SC4 were induced to adopt the bsheet
state, the mitochondrial activity of fibroblast cells was
hardly affected.47,48 Functional groups can be used together
with hydrophobins to capture cells selectively, an area which is
of great potential in cellular research and clinical diagnosis.49,50
When anti-CD31 antibodies were absorbed on HFBI-coated
poly-e-caprolactone (PCL) films, the number of bound human
umbilical vein endothelial cells was nearly 15-fold higher than
compared with bare PCL films.51 Functional groups can also
be incorporated by recombinant engineering. Human blood
outgrowth endothelial cell binding peptide (TPS, with
sequence TPSLEQRTVYAK) was expressed as an N-terminal
fusion to HGFI via a linker.52 PCL modified with TPS-HGFI
specifically attracted these endothelial cells.50 Similar
approaches can be adapted to modify surgical instruments or
medical implants to increase biocompatibility and to promote
integration as well as to reduce bacterial infections.