VEGF as Alveolar Bone Regeneration Key Protein in SHED Secretome, Hydroxyapatite and Collagen Type 1 Scaffold: An In-Silico Study

Background: A combination of SHED secretome, hydroxyapatite, and collagen type 1 is a promising scaffold for the alveolar bone defect. IL10, VEGF, FGF2, and TGF-beta growth factors contained in SHED secretome can potentially increase bone regeneration, while HA and COL10A scaffolds bind bone tissue and stimulate osteoblasts in the bone formation process. However, the activity, interaction, and physicochemical factors of those growth factors need to be revealed to increase their potential in tissue engineering. Objective: This study aimed to decipher the molecular basis of SHED Secretome, hydroxyapatite, and collagen type 1 combination for identifying biomolecules that drive the alveolar bone regeneration process. Method: The Uniprot and PubChem databases collected protein and molecular data. Docking analysis using the STITCH and STRING webservers. Results: IL-10, VEGF, FGF-2, TGF-beta, COL10A1, and HA are known to be involved in the alveolar bone defect healing process. These proteins support each other's functions and are assumed to be essential in bone regeneration. The analysis results show that the VEGF protein has a high score of betweenness centrality and closeness centrality. This means that VEGF has the most frequent and efficient interactions with other proteins related to bone regeneration mechanisms. Meanwhile, the COL10A1 protein has the lowest score. It indicates the protein has low and limited interactions. Conclusion: The combination of SHED secretome and HA-collagen type I can potentially increase the bone regeneration process of the alveolar bone defect with VEGF as a critical protein because of its high interaction efficiency compared to other proteins.