Materials based on spider silk for regenerative medicine

Spider silk is an unusually strong, flexible, biocompatible natural biomaterial that is becoming attractive for scientific research with the possibility of translation into clinical practice. Female orb-weaving spiders of the genus Nephila clavipes produce up to seven different types of silk, using various silk glands and spinning organs located at the posterior end of the spider’s abdomen. The main proteins are the main ampulla spidroins MaSp1 and MaSp2, which can be used to create recombinant spider silk due to the limitation of web collection in vivo. The review highlights studies dedicated to the use of spider silk-based materials in the field of tissue engineering in vitro. In particular, data on the use of two-dimensional and three-dimensional models and scaffolds for tissue engineering with the possibility of using modern technologies such as bioprinting are summarized. 

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