Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Aleksandar Backovic, Nikolaus Wick, Georg Wick
PROTEIN SIGNATURES ON SILICONE SURFACE AS
BIOMARKERS FOR IMMUNOLOGIC-FIBROTIC SIDE EFFECTS
TO IMPLANTS
An inflammatory response with subsequent fibrotic reactions are the most common side
effects of medical silicones. However, although there is a growing number of medical
interventions that require long term active or passive silicone implants, there has been
surprisingly little effort to understand the molecular mechanisms behind the adverse
effects they might induce. In the present study we focused our attention onto proteins
adhering to the surface of medical silicones, as they have been identified as the key
activators of the host defense mechanisms that precede fibrotic changes in the tissue
surrounding the implant. Interestingly, abundant mononuclear cells, including dendritic
cells and macrophages can be found in the fibrotic tissue surrounding silicone implants.
In the discovery phase, a proteomics approach was used to identify proteins adsorbed
from the serum of silicone mammary implant (SMI) carriers to the surface of silicone in
vitro. Out of the 184 proteins which adsorbed to silicone, 14 showed differences in the
adhesion pattern between the non-symptomatic SMI carriers compared to the group of
patients developing a fibrotic reaction (peri-SMI fibrotic capsule) to silicone. In the
subsequent development phase, a simple silicone linked immuno-sorbent assay
(SILISA) was developed that can simultaneously detect the signature of the 14
differentially adhered proteins in a high throughput fashion. In a cohort study of 100
SMI carriers the SILISA successfully discriminated patients with adverse reactions to
silicone implants. Furthermore, the same test can be used to assess various silicone
types for the development of fibrotic side effects, and in such way tailor the choice of
implants to the test results of individual patient. Both, large scale prospective and
retrospective blinded studies are being conducted to validate these preliminary results,
and to determine accuracy, precision, linearity, range, and the robustness of the test
system.
The project has been supported by the Competence Center Medicine Tirol (KMT) and the
Lore and Udo Saldow Foundation.