课题组前期对角蛋白提取物的止血、组织修复等功能进行了研究。但由于提取角蛋白存在质量难控制、成分不明确、为多种蛋白复合物，无法开展角蛋白的止血与功能修复机制、角蛋白的结构修饰等研究。因此课题组通过原核表达方法进行了人发角蛋白K37和K81的重组表达，并首次对其止血性能和止血机制进行研究。

    该课题由郭廷旺、李文凤、王驹、罗甜甜、娄德帅共同完成。已被Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine and Biotechnology杂志接收。

Recombinant Human Hair Keratin Proteins for Halting Bleeding

Tingwang Guo, ^{a, b, 1} Wenfeng Li, ^{a, b, 1} Ju Wang, ^{a, b} Tiantian Luo, ^{a, b} Deshuai Lou, ^{a, b} Bochu Wang, ^{a, b, *} Shilei Hao ^{a, b, *}

ABSTRACT: Keratins derived from human hair have been widely used for tissue engineering. However, some drawbacks relative to the traditional keratins extracts have been found: a): difficultly controlling the amino acid composition; b): batch to batch inconsistent quality; and c): producing complex keratin and keratin-associated proteins (KAPs), which problems have made some studies concerning human hair keratins stagnant, especially in the mechanism studies related to hemostasis of keratins. Herein, a type I human hair keratin of K37 and a type II human hair keratin of K81 were heterologously expressed and firstly used for hemostatic application. SDS-PAGE analysis shows that the recombinant keratins had higher purity compared to the extracted keratins. The circular dichroism (CD) spectra of K37 and K81 suggested that the secondary structures were rich in α-helix. In addition, the recombinant keratin proteins could enhance fibrin colt formation at the site of injury and decrease the bleeding time and blood loss in liver puncture and femoral artery injury rat models. This study provides a new strategy for future works involving design and mechanism studies of keratin biomaterials.