Force-responsive biomaterials drive tissue repair by harnessing endogenous growth factors
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Materials enabling cell-responsive delivery of endogenous biologics, such as growth factors, have the potential to modulate wound repair cost-effectively and safely. Unlike passive drug delivery strategies that require supraphysiological doses of recombinant protein or stimuli-responsive systems that rely on external triggers, we demonstrate a strategy that harnesses cellular traction forces as an intrinsic delivery trigger. Traction force-Activated Payloads (TrAPs) are bioinspired aptamer constructs attached to biomaterial scaffolds that selectively harvest, concentrate, and reactivate multiple endogenous growth factors from cells, injury sites, and blood lysate in vivo (rat femur, mouse skin) and ex vivo (human skin), at doses orders of magnitude lower than current clinical standards. Unmodified oligonucleotide aptamers retain functionality in enzyme-rich wound environments, substantially expanding the translational potential of nucleic acid-based therapeutics. The ability to harvest and redeliver endogenous growth factors without exogenous triggers, recombinant proteins, or cold-chain logistics via mechanoresponsive biomaterials opens possibilities for accessible, cost-effective combinatorial biologic therapies.
Date Issued
2026-09-01
Date Acceptance
2026-06-25
Citation
Nature Materials, 2026, 25 (9), pp.1646-1657
ISSN
1476-1122
Publisher
Nature Research
Start Page
1646
End Page
1657
Journal / Book Title
Nature Materials
Volume
25
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1038/s41563-026-02682-8
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2026-07-27