3D printing of silk fibroin-based hybrid scaffold treated with platelet rich plasma for bone tissue engineering

3D printing/bioprinting are promising techniques to fabricate scaffolds with well controlled and patient-specific structures and architectures for bone tissue engineering.In this study,we developed a composite bioink consisting of silk fibroin(SF),gelatin(GEL),hyaluronic acid(HA),and tricalcium phosphate(TCP)and 3D bioprinted the silk fibroin-based hybrid scaffolds.The 3D bioprinted scaffolds with dual crosslinking were further treated with human platelet-rich plasma(PRP)to generate PRP coated scaffolds.Live/Dead and MTT assays demonstrated that PRP treatment could obviously promote the cell growth and proliferation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells(HADMSC).In addition,the treatment of PRP did not significantly affect alkaline phosphatase(ALP)activity and expression,but significantly upregulated the gene expression levels of late osteogenic markers.This study demonstrated that the 3D printing of silk fibroin-based hybrid scaffolds,in combination with PRP post-treatment,might be a more efficient strategy to promote osteogenic differentiation of adult stem cells and has significant potential to be used for bone tissue engineering.

Occult HBV infection status and its impact on surgical outcomes in patients with curative resection for HCV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma

Background:We sought to clarify the prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection(OBI)and to determine whether OBI affects the surgical outcomes in curatively resected Japanese patients with hepatitis C virus(HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods:A total of 257 patients with HCV-related HCC who underwent curative surgical resection were enrolled.All enrolled patients were serologically negative for HBV surface antigen and positive for HCV antibody.DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded liver tissue.OBI was determined by the HBV-DNA amplification of at least two different sets of primers by TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction.Surgical outcomes were evaluated according to overall survival(OS),disease-specific survival(DSS),and disease-free survival(DFS).Results:OBI was identified in 15 of the 257(5.8%)cases.In the multivariate analyses,the factors significantly correlated with OS were BMI>25(P=0.0416),portal vein invasion(P=0.0065),and multiple tumors(P=0.0064).The only factor significantly correlated with DSS was T-stage(P=0.0275).The factors significantly correlated with DFS were liver fibrosis(P=0.0017)and T-stage(P=0.0001).The status of OBI did not show any significant correlation with OS,DSS or DFS,but a weak association with DSS(P=0.0603)was observed.Conclusions:The prevalence of OBI was 5.8%in 257 cases of HCV-related HCC.Although a weak association between DSS and OBI was observed,and statistical analyses were limited by small number of OBI cases,no significant correlation between OBI and surgical outcomes was detected.