Growth Factors Engineered for Super-Affinity to the Extracellular Matrix Enhance Tissue Healing

Toward Successful Tissue Repair The therapeutic use of growth factors in tissue regeneration has suffered from safety and efficacy issues. Reasoning that the unmet potential may be because of nonphysiological delivery, Martino et al. (p. 885 ) engineered growth factors to bind strongly to extracellular matrix proteins. These variants were able to induce superior tissue repair, compared to the wild-type proteins. Furthermore, unwanted side effects were decreased: For example, the engineered angiogenic growth factor VEGF showed reduced vascular permeability, a concern that has limited the therapeutic efficacy of wild-type VEGF.