Aspects of Multimodal Hybrid Biomaterials

Immobilizing a single growth factor such as rhBMP-2 on Implant materials can significantly increase the integration of implants into bone in animals. Paradoxically the effective osteoinductive dose of rhBMP-2 in humans is ca. 100-1000-fold higher than in animals and may induce serious side effects in spine fusion surgery. In physiological bone healing at least 10 separate growth and differentiation factors are sequentially involved in the first two healing phases leading to a callus and/or woven bone. It is therefore hypothesized that a significant dose reduction for rhBMP-2 applications in humans may be achieved by a combination of rhBMP-2 with other growth factors in a biomimetically oriented manner. Some aspects involved in multimodal bioactive hybrid carriers with spatio-temporal release kinetics and a new phenomenon ("protein interference") are presented.