Value-added chitosan scaffolds for biomedical applications

Abstract

Chitosan’s versatility has been demonstrated in both cancer and bacterial bioapplications. First of all, a robust and viable targeted delivery system based on chitosan scaffold had been designed and assembled for delivering a biomacromolecular cargo. In this study, the cargo of interest, recombinant A-chain of Singapore mistletoe lectin (rSML-A), was delivered successfully into the cytosol of cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 cell line), as compared to none in the control (NIH3T3 cell line). The design of a combination of highly specific components was substantiated by promising biologica lactivities observed in this study, and provides an excellent platform for future applications in protein delivery. Other than acting as a biodegradable backbone for protein delivery, our group has also ventured into the exploration of utilising chitosan scaffolds as a facile synthetic approach to peptidoglycan oligosaccharides (PGOs) and PGO derivatives of the bacterial cell wall. Recognition of the synthetic PGO by enzyme and different bacterial strains have been conducted, along side with a brief SAR study. This ‘top-down’ methodology in obtaining PGO and PGO-derivatives is highly convenient, and thus provides a versatile platform for future mechanistic studies on bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, as well as a great tool in combating antibiotic resistance and bioimaging applications.