Biomimetic and biocompatible MOFs for medical applications: Advances, challenges, and future directions

Biomimetic and biocompatible metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as versatile platforms for medical applications, enabling drug delivery, bioimaging, biosensing, and catalytic therapy across cancer, infection, wound healing, and neurological disorders. Unlike conventional nanocarriers, MOFs combine modular coordination chemistry with tunable porosity, allowing their structure, surface identity, and degradation behavior to be engineered for specific biological environments. In this review, we critically discuss recent advances in biomimetic MOFs that emulate biological functions such as immune evasion, selective recognition, enzymatic activity, and barrier transport, alongside biocompatible MOFs designed for controlled stability and safe in vivo fate. We highlight how framework composition, surface modification, and physicochemical properties shape interactions with proteins, cells, and tissues, ultimately determining therapeutic performance. Finally, we discuss key challenges limiting clinical translation, including incomplete understanding of long-term biosafety, variable biodegradation pathways, targeting efficiency, and manufacturing reproducibility. Together, this review provides an updated and structured perspective on how biomimetic and biocompatible MOF design can be aligned with biological constraints to advance clinically relevant medical technologies.