Nature 451, 977980. Tropoelastin, the soluble precursor to elastin, and the degradation products of fragmented elastic fibers also have important chemical signaling properties. Reichheld, S. E., Muiznieks, L. D., Huynh, Q., Wang, N., Ing, C., Miao, M., et al. Domains in tropoelastin that mediate elastin deposition in vitro and in vivo. Tropoelastin is frequently described in the literature as an unstructured protein, mainly because models of elasticity invoke an element of disorder within the structure (4, 9, 10).While this concept appears to be the case at the fine, more subtle intramolecular level, chaos alone is unlikely to explain the ordered assembly of tropoelastin which culminates in the formation of organized . doi: 10.1074/jbc.M113.533893, Reiersen, H., and Rees, A. R. (2000). Int. Elastin is extensively cross-linked and difficult to break apart into monomers even under harsh conditions, thus, initial strategies included feeding animals a copper deficient diet to prevent lysyl oxidase (LOX) cross-linking of tropoelastin; however, this proved inefficient and time consuming (Wise and Weiss, 2009; Tarakanova et al., 2018). Homology models for domains 21-23 of human tropoelastin shed light on lysine crosslinking. Mol. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00546, Bochicchio, B., Floquet, N., Pepe, A., Alix, A. J., and Tamburro, A. M. (2004). Future investigations will allow the bridging of the gap between mesoscale simulations and microscopically observed coacervation (Clarke et al., 2006). 34, 8190. With commercial operations in approximately 100 countries, Allergan is committed to working with physicians, healthcare providers and patients to deliver innovative and meaningful treatments that help people around the world live longer, healthier lives every day. 126, 283290. Similar to other ECM proteins, such as collagen, tropoelastin covalently cross-links via its lysines. 43, 131138. Importantly, the presence of fibrils indicates that the nanostructures formed during initial assembly contribute to the supramolecular structures that arise during both early (spherule) and later (fibril) stages of elastogenesis. Fabricating organized elastin in vascular grafts. Thus, elastin is responsible, in great part, for the properties of elastic fibers. Chem. 150, 154162. (1965). Arch. Tropoelastin, the raw material used to create 'MeTro' elastic surgical glue developed with the University of Sydney, has been found to encourage stem cell growth - with the potential to ultimately help the body repair itself. Baul, U., Bley, M., and Dzubiella, J. Pathol. (2012). (2014). Biochemistry 36, 84138421. J. Biol. Primary structure of porcine tropoelastin. into 200 nm then 12 m spherules, which eventually grow and stabilize into spherules 26 m in diameter (Clarke et al., 2006; Kozel et al., 2006; Tu and Weiss, 2010; Tu et al., 2010). Sci. J. Biol. 289, 489492. doi: 10.1074/jbc.270.30.17778, Cain, S. A., Baldock, C., Gallagher, J., Morgan, A., Bax, D. V., Weiss, A. S., et al. Chem. Natl. Tropoelastin cannot readily be prepared in quantity from natural sources and this has limited research in several important areas including structure/function relationships and fiber assembly. FEBS J. 410, 317323. For example, their inclusion in peptides derived from hydrophobic domains confers decreased times taken for self-assembly, most likely due to their favorable interaction with aqueous solvent (Miao et al., 2003). J. Biol. Pharm. Front. Aaron, B., and Gosline, J. 79, 277284. Acad. 3, 28322844. Cryo-electron microscopy for structural analysis of dynamic biological macromolecules. J. Biol. (2015). Biopolymers 107:e23007. doi: 10.1002/chem.200305661. Biopolymers 29, 16991706. Elastins subunit, tropoelastin, is a soluble 6070 kDa protein which has been intensely studied over the past three decades. Exp. J. Mol. Tropoelastin is the soluble precursor of elastin that is secreted as a 60-70-kDa monomer by elastogenic cells such as fibroblasts, lung alveolar cells, chondrocytes, and vascular SMCs [16]. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2017.07.020, Myers, B., Dubick, M., Last, J. Reichheld, S. E., Muiznieks, L. D., Keeley, F. W., and Sharpe, S. (2017). Elastogenic cells, such as fibroblasts (Mecham et al., 1985) and smooth muscle cells (Narayanan et al., 1976), synthesize and secrete tropoelastin. In addition to interacting with tropoelastin, fibulin-4 and -5 are capable of also binding LOX and fibrillin-1 and, thus, have key roles in facilitating elastogenesis (Hinderer et al., 2015). Acad. Powered by Madgex Job Board Software. Calorim. Model. Elastagen's revolutionary recombinant human tropoelastin, is identical to that present in human tissue and has many clinical applications, including effective breakthrough treatments for acne. Transl. 252, 351365. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.01.041, Tarakanova, A., Ozsvar, J., Weiss, A. S., and Buehler, M. J. Cell. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046130, Hedtke, T., Schrader, C. U., Heinz, A., Hoehenwarter, W., Brinckmann, J., Groth, T., et al. Imaging 11:e007303. By probing mutations in computational studies that resolve the atomistic structure of the molecule, the deduction of mechanisms associated with changes to functional roles of specific domains has become feasible, and a connection between local structures and biological performance can be established (Figure 2; Tarakanova et al., 2018). doi: 10.1074/jbc.M501390200, Chung, M. I., Miao, M., Stahl, R. J., Chan, E., Parkinson, J., and Keeley, F. W. (2006). A., Ishibashi, H., Werneck, C. C., Keeley, F. W., Zhang, L., et al. Allergan is an industry leader in Open Science,a model of research and development, which defines our approach to identifying and developing game-changing ideas and innovation for better patient care. (2003). The coacervate is made insoluble by irreversible crosslinking. U.S.A. 116, 20422051. Soluble matrix protein is a potent modulator of mesenchymal stem cell performance. doi: 10.1128/mcb.26.5.1700-1709.2006, Mecham, R. P. (1991). Sci. Tropoelastins flexibility does not allow it to pack into a crystal lattice and its size renders it too complex to assign atomic interactions using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) on a global level (Tamburro et al., 2003, 2006; Bochicchio et al., 2004; Pepe et al., 2008). They are ubiquitous across most vertebrates other than lower vertebrates such as species from the superclass Agnatha (jawless fish) (Debelle and Tamburro, 1999). Biochem. Coacervation is an endothermic, entropically favorable process through which tropoelastin monomers self-assemble into higher order n-mer structures. The conserved C-terminus is an area of the molecule of particular biological importance in that it is required for both incorporation into elastin and for cellular interactions. Although there is no 3D structure for porcine tropoelastin, porcine tropoelastin differs from that of humans (Sandberg et al., 1977), leaving it unclear as to whether these domains align as expected in human tissue. Elastagen has received investment from an international syndicate of venture groups including AmorePacific Ventures, Brandon Capital, Cell Innovation Partners, Cicada Innovations, GBS Ventures, Korea Investment Partners and the Wellcome Trust. Transglutaminase-mediated cross-linking of tropoelastin to fibrillin stabilises the elastin precursor prior to elastic fibre assembly. Elastagen is an exciting clinical-stage company with an advanced tissue repair platform based on tropoelastin. J. Biol. A cell adhesive peptide from tropoelastin promotes sequential cell attachment and spreading via distinct receptors. Possible role in nucleated assembly. doi: 10.1016/0005-2795(73)90368-1, Franzblau, C., Faris, B., and Papaioannou, R. (1969). doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.8b01503, Rauscher, S., Baud, S., Miao, M., Keeley, F. W., and Poms, R. (2006). Proc. Although alanine tracts within other proteins are predisposed to -helix formation (Yang and Honig, 1995; Avbelj, 2000), high helical content within tropoelastins KA domains was primarily demonstrated to persist in solvents that stabilize secondary structure, such as trifluoroethanol, rather than aqueous solution (Luo and Baldwin, 1997; Tamburro et al., 2006). The resultant bending motion rather than scissors-twist motion that stemmed from this stabilization highlights the mutants diminished flexibility as a key driver of impaired fiber assembly in cutis laxa (Tarakanova et al., 2018). doi: 10.1021/bi060289i, Tarakanova, A., and Buehler, M. J. Intracellularly, EBP is associated with tropoelastin after the release of the signal peptide and acts as a chaperone to prevent self-aggregation and proteolysis as it transported to the cell membrane, after which EBP is then recycled and serves as a reusable shuttle protein (Hinek et al., 1995). Below the coil is a flexible hinge region made up of domains 2024, which are directly adjacent to the bridge regions of domains 2526. Am. Sci. Biol. Allergan Plc, a $15.9b provider of medical aesthetics, biosimilars, and over-the-counter pharmaceutical products will acquire Elastagen Pty Ltd., a provider of advanced tissue repair platform based on tropoelastin (gives tissue its elasticity) for $95m.The acquisition adds proprietary injectable products to Allergan's existing portfolio. The elastin receptor complex transduces signals through the catalytic activity of its Neu-1 subunit. The last 17 amino acid residues of the C-terminus of domain 36 are also implicated in HS interactions; the last four residues are Arg-Lys-Arg-Lys and are positively charged at physiological pH which provides a charged cluster capable of binding negatively charged HS (Broekelmann et al., 2005). Fibrillin-rich microfibrils of the extracellular matrix: ultrastructure and assembly. This reflects the experimentally observed heterogeneity of cross-links in mature elastin, again giving weight to the hypothesis that the flexibility of tropoelastin is imperative for assembly (Schrader et al., 2018; Tarakanova et al., 2019a). doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2013.08.003, Wu, W. J., and Weiss, A. S. (1999). Positively charged lysine residues in domains 17 were identified to interact with negatively charged HS, most likely via ionic interactions (Lee et al., 2017). doi: 10.1016/s0945-053x(03)00014-3, Vrhovski, B., Jensen, S., and Weiss, A. S. (1997). Rev. The lysines of domain 15 and 17 are believed to play key roles in this interaction. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(94)00848-m, McLaughlin, P. J., Chen, Q., Horiguchi, M., Starcher, B. C., Stanton, J. The conversion of a single lysine to an allysine results in structural stabilization, which may serve as a checkpoint during self-assembly to ensure that molecules incapable of forming multiple cross-links are not incorporated into the growing chain. Proc. Biomaterials 139, 163171. Unsubstituted models are also critical to understanding self-assembly. Eur. It's a stretchy protein that resembles a rubber band it can stretch out (extend) and shrink back (recoil). Tropoelastin is a precursor protein of elastin, and is composed of hydrophilic (lysine, valine and proline) and hydrophobic (glycine, valine and proline) domains. Stages of hierarchical assembly of elastic fibers. doi: 10.1046/j.1432-1327.1999.00891.x, Yamauchi, Y., Tsuruga, E., Nakashima, K., Sawa, Y., and Ishikawa, H. (2010). U.S.A. 108, 43224327. EDPs can modulate an array of signal pathways (Scandolera et al., 2016), but full-length tropoelastin does not trigger pathways through the ERC. Elastogenesis occurs during replacement fibrosis in human heart disease and can be accelerated in vitro via tropoelastin treatment. Elastagen is creating injectables using recombinant human tropelastin, a substance that's crucial for producing elastin fibers in the skin. Sci. CB gratefully acknowledges BBSRC funding (Ref: BB/R008221/1). . J. Transient tropoelastin nanoparticles are early-stage intermediates in the coacervation of human tropoelastin whose aggregation is facilitated by heparan sulfate and heparin decasaccharides. Nature 437, 9991002. Tropoelastins sequence and domain arrangement. Domains 12 to 16 of tropoelastin promote cell attachment and spreading through interactions with glycosaminoglycan and integrins alphaV and alpha5beta1. Biochemistry 42, 1334713362. Codistribution analysis of elastin and related fibrillar proteins in early vertebrate development. Lab. For this injection, the researchers used a new . Elastin binding protein and FKBP65 modulate in vitro self-assembly of human tropoelastin. doi: 10.1248/bpb.b13-00933, Ozsvar, J., Tarakanova, A., Wang, R., Buehler, M. J., and Weiss, A. S. (2019). (2018). Sci. Lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2)-mediated cross-linking of tropoelastin. 10, 15321541. Biophys. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-71530-8_13-1, Wen, Q., Mithieux, S. M., and Weiss, A. S. (2020). For Elastagen contact: Robert Daniels, CEO +61 2 9209 4054. Coarse-grained model of tropoelastin self-assembly into nascent fibrils. Collapse Section. Background: Elastin is an essential component of the dermis, providing skin with elasticity and integrity. Banded fibers in tropoelastin coacervates at physiological temperatures. Thus, computational approaches can be considered as important means to complement wet bench experiments. The ability to stretch and recoil arises from the biochemical properties of elastins monomer, tropoelastin (discussed below). Elastin makes up the majority of elastic fibers and is formed by the hierarchical assembly of its monomer, tropoelastin. Micron 32, 185200. doi: 10.1016/j.matbio.2006.10.002, Dyksterhuis, L. B., and Weiss, A. S. (2010). 126, 563574. Biomacromolecules 18, 599609. 275, 2844928454. Free energy determinants of secondary structure formation: I. alpha-Helices. Fibrillin-1 interactions with heparin. Fibulin-4 and -5, but not fibulin-2, are associated with tropoelastin deposition in elastin-producing cell culture. Founder, Elastagen Pty Ltd (sold to Allergan/AbbVie . 249, 997998. Elastagens revolutionary recombinant human tropoelastin, is identical to that present in human tissue and has many clinical applications, including effective breakthrough treatments for acne scars, stretch marks, aesthetic skin repair and wound repair. Tropoelastin is encoded by the ELN gene, which is present in all vertebrates except jawless fish (Chung et al., 2006). Figure 3. doi: 10.1111/iep.12224, Kentsis, A., and Sosnick, T. R. (1998). Tropoelastin spherules assemble at the cell surface before deposition onto the microfibrillar scaffold in cell culture systems at physiological temperature (Kozel et al., 2006). Our Juvederm collection of fillers has sales of over $1 billion globally and is one of the fastest growing parts of our Aesthetics business, said Bill Meury, Chief Commercial Officer at Allergan. Tropoelastins hydrophobic domains are predominantly responsible for the random coil content of the monomer, and are the result of the unique pairing of proline and glycine pairs that are interspersed throughout the majority of hydrophobic domains (Rauscher and Pomes, 2017). Med. Elastin as a random-network elastomer: a mechanical and optical analysis of single elastin fibers. doi: 10.1161/circimaging.117.007303, Prhashanna, A., Taylor, P. A., Qin, J., Kiick, K. L., and Jayaraman, A. Tropoelastin is characterised by alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains and is highly flexible. 289, 1005710068. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M308465200, Miao, M., Bruce, A. E., Bhanji, T., Davis, E. C., and Keeley, F. W. (2007). Elastagen Pty Ltd, a clinical stage company developing medical device products based on recombinant tropoelastin, today announced. Cross-linking domains can be subdivided into KP or KA domains, which denote the amino acids (proline or alanine, respectively) that are adjacent to the lysines (Figure 1). J. Biochem. 276, 4457544580. Stages in tropoelastin coalescence during synthetic elastin hydrogel formation. The cross-linking domains are defined by lysines, which are responsible for the formation of durable bi-, tri-, and tetrafunctional cross-links within mature elastin. Elastic fibers provide tissues with mechanical resilience, durability, and cell interactivity, which support a diverse range of specialized functionality. 29, 152159. Biotechnol., 25 February 2021, View all Cell Biol. Further to this, the flexibility of the hydrophobic domains may also play a key role in self-assembly. Developing elastic tissue. doi: 10.1006/excr.1995.1321, Hinek, A., and Rabinovitch, M. (1994). The amino acid sequence of domain 36 is unique; furthermore, its sequence confers a positively charged C-terminus comprising lysines between positively charged arginines, forming a RKRK sequence (Vrhovski et al., 1997). 26, 115124. Partridge, S. M. (1966). J. Tropoelastin is secreted as a 6070 kDa protein to the cell surface where it participates in self-assembly (Hinek and Rabinovitch, 1994; Figure 3). U.S.A. 84, 56805684. Another region of note is domain 36, which contains lysines but does not participate in cross-linking (Hedtke et al., 2019). The process of tropoelastin aggregation is initially reversible, as spherules dissipate if the temperature is lowered (Clarke et al., 2006), however, maintenance of a physiological temperature results in maturation, which is indicated by spherule coalescence and the irreversible formation of fibrillar structures (Cox et al., 1974; Bressan et al., 1983; Mithieux et al., 2005). (1981). Eng. Biopolymers [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1002/bip.22663, Murata, K., and Wolf, M. (2018). Fed. (2019). Interactions with these integrins on the surface of mesenchymal stem cells, either through surface bound or as soluble tropoelastin, promote MSC proliferation and phenotypic maintenance via FAK and PKB/AKT (Yeo and Weiss, 2019). Biosci. doi: 10.1002/bip.360291403, Luo, P., and Baldwin, R. L. (1997). Form. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1215779110, Noguchi, A., Firsching, K., Kursar, J. D., and Reddy, R. (1990). Biol. The N-terminal head caps an extended coil region that consists of domains 218. (2019b). Recycling of the 67-kDa elastin binding protein in arterial myocytes is imperative for secretion of tropoelastin. Effect of peptide sequence on the LCST-like transition of elastin-like peptides and elastin-like peptidecollagen-like peptide conjugates: simulations and experiments. 22, 109121. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2010.10.003, Yeo, G. C., Tarakanova, A., Baldock, C., Wise, S. G., Buehler, M. J., and Weiss, A. S. (2016). Crosslinking [ edit] Indeed, studies examining the consequences of domain insertions and deletions note changes in the intrinsic functionality of tropoelastin, corroborating the hypothesis that domain insertions and deletions result in altered tissue mechanics (Jensen et al., 2000; Kozel et al., 2003; Yeo et al., 2016; Miao et al., 2017). Acta Biomater. Alternative splicing of human elastin mRNA indicated by sequence analysis of cloned genomic and complementary DNA. It's a major component of tissues in your body that require stretchiness, like your lungs, bladder, large blood vessels and some ligaments. Dominant driving factors of assembly were examined, including water, temperature and domain pair orientations. Comparative genomics of elastin: sequence analysis of a highly repetitive protein. Lysinonorleucine. Indeed, cryo-EM was recently reported to have a lower molecular size limit of approximately 50 kDa, however, it has not yet been successfully applied to characterize tropoelastin (Murata and Wolf, 2018). J. Biol. For more information, visit Elastagens website atwww.elastagen.com. Such models could be used in conjunction with the full molecular model of tropoelastin to examine the self-assembly of discrete regions to understand the impacts of amino acid substitutions in disease. Elastases can be in the form of serine- (e.g., Ela-2), cysteine- (e.g., cathepsin I), or matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2, -7, -9, and -12), and bioactive peptides include the VGVAPG peptide. Acta 761, 1722. Bioeng. Allergan markets a portfolio of leading brands and best-in-class products for the central nervous system, eye care, medical aesthetics and dermatology, gastroenterology, womens health, urology and anti-infectivetherapeutic categories. 37, 698702. A comprehensive map of human elastin cross-linking during elastogenesis. (2017). doi: 10.1007/978-1-4684-9093-0_25, Scandolera, A., Odoul, L., Salesse, S., Guillot, A., Blaise, S., Kawecki, C., et al. Exp. Matrix 12, 156162. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2004.03.002, Sandberg, L. B., Gray, W. R., Foster, J.