Biocellulose Nanofibrilar Adhesives with Antigen-Antibody Interactions for Dermal Therapy

Biocellulose nanofibers (BCNFs), known as bacteria-derived celluloses, are attractive biomaterials, since they are biocompatible and can be easily chemically modified for a variety of biomedical treatments. When primary hydroxyl groups on the BCNFs are substituted to carboxylic groups by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation, they are able to physicochemically interact with biomolecules. Herein, we propose a new BCNF-based bioadhesion system for dermal therapy. The essence of our approach is that the antibody-conjugated BCNFs are bound to involucrin in the corneocyte of stratum corneum. The BCNF bioadhesives were fabricated by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC)/N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide (sulfo-NHS) coupling reaction of antibody. Then, the adhesion force between the antibody-conjugated BCNFs and porcine skin was characterized by using the axial rheometer measurement. Finally, we demonstrated that our BCNF bioadhesives exhibited such a strong interaction with the skin tissue even under wet conditions, thus promising a variety of biological applications in the field of dermal therapy.