Biodegradation of Silk-Based Proteins

Silk proteins are frequently used biomaterials for delivering different therapeutics, developing different medical device implants, and tissue regeneration and repair because of their unique features with excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and biode-gradability. As different tissues regenerate at varying rates, timing the rate of degradation to match the rate of new tissue formation is crucial for creating an ideal scaffold. One of the promising vectors for intracellular drug delivery is silk biopolymers, which can be introduced into cells via endocytosis and transported to lysosomes, where lysosomal enzymes and low pH cause the payload release. Many investigations have examined silk material enzyme degradation and host immune response-related degradation. These studies illuminated the challenges of this process and suggested future silk material degradation studies. This chapter discusses silk degradation factors, cargo release, regeneration of tissue, and future advances.