Overcoming the translational barriers of tissue adhesives

For the past few decades, tissue sealants and adhesives have been developed as an alternative to sutures and staples to close and seal wounds or incisions. These materials are advantageous because of their ease of use, short application time and minimal tissue damage, making them suitable for minimally invasive procedures. However, there is a large gap between the amount of research into tissue adhesives and the number of products available. To bridge this gap, there is a need to better understand the challenges to clinical translation of tissue adhesives. In particular, adhesive design must be informed by a deep understanding of the target tissue’s surface characteristics and environment, which vary considerably among tissue types. Moreover, understanding and monitoring the long-term performance of a material post-implantation is crucial; this includes monitoring the chemical and physical properties of the implanted adhesives over time, tissue responses and the resultant changes in adhesion and cohesion. In addition, early-stage consideration of the unmet clinical need and the regulatory and development paths could lower the barriers in the development cost and effort, facilitating clinical translation. In this Review, we identify challenges in the development of tissue adhesives and provide design criteria to translate tissue-adhesive technologies into clinical practice. To design and construct tissue adhesives tailored for site-specific actions, it is necessary to understand the interaction between the adhesive and the targeted tissue. In this Review, the development of adhesives for soft tissues is outlined, including discussions of in vivo properties and biocompatibility, as well as the key design criteria for accelerating their translation into clinical practice.