Ultra-strong bio-glue from genetically engineered polypeptides

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 3613
• Main Authors: Ma, Chao, Sun, Jing, Li, Bo, Feng, Yang, Sun, Yao, Xiang, Li, Wu, Baiheng, Xiao, Lingling, Liu, Baimei, Petrovskii, Vladislav S., Bin Liu, Zhang, Jinrui, Wang, Zili, Li, Hongyan, Zhang, Lei, Li, Jingjing, Wang, Fan, Gӧstl, Robert, Potemkin, Igor I., Chen, Dong, Zeng, Hongbo, Zhang, Hongjie, Liu, Kai, Herrmann, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 14.06.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 13; 59; 631/61/54/990; 639/301/54/990; 639/638/298/54/990; 64; 64/86; Adhesion; Adhesive strength; Adhesives; Animal models; Biocompatibility; Biodegradability; Biodegradation; Biomedical engineering; Biomedical materials; Covalent bonds; Genetic engineering; Glues; Hemostasis; Hemostatics; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lysine; Mechanical properties; multidisciplinary; Pollutants; Polypeptides; Proteins; Robustness; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Soft tissues; Substrates; Surfactants; Wound healing
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23117-9

The development of biomedical glues is an important, yet challenging task as seemingly mutually exclusive properties need to be combined in one material, i.e. strong adhesion and adaption to remodeling processes in healing tissue. Here, we report a biocompatible and biodegradable protein-based adhesive with high adhesion strengths. The maximum strength reaches 16.5 ± 2.2 MPa on hard substrates, which is comparable to that of commercial cyanoacrylate superglue and higher than other protein-based adhesives by at least one order of magnitude. Moreover, the strong adhesion on soft tissues qualifies the adhesive as biomedical glue outperforming some commercial products. Robust mechanical properties are realized without covalent bond formation during the adhesion process. A complex consisting of cationic supercharged polypeptides and anionic aromatic surfactants with lysine to surfactant molar ratio of 1:0.9 is driven by multiple supramolecular interactions enabling such strong adhesion. We demonstrate the glue’s robust performance in vitro and in vivo for cosmetic and hemostasis applications and accelerated wound healing by comparison to surgical wound closures. Biomedical glues often face a challenge in providing strong adhesion and providing remodelling capabilities. Here the authors report on the development of a biocompatible and biodegradable protein-based coacervate adhesive and demonstrate application in haemostasis and wound healing using pig models.