Biotechnologically Derived Materials as Drug Delivery Systems for Tissue Regeneration

Regenerative medicine is an evolving field that seeks to restore or replace damaged tissues and organs through the activation of endogenous repair pathways or the application of engineered therapeutic strategies. Within this paradigm, drug delivery systems (DDSs) serve as essential mediators for localized, sustained, and controlled release of bioactive agents that stimulate and support tissue regeneration. The advent of biotechnology has catalyzed the development of innovative DDSs based on biologically derived materials, offering improved biocompatibility, biodegradability, and functional versatility. This review presents a critical analysis of recent advances in the design and application of biotechnologically derived materials, such as recombinant collagen, elastin, and silk, as well as microbial biosynthesized polysaccharides, including bacterial cellulose, hyaluronic acid, and alginate, as drug delivery platforms in regenerative medicine. Thus, a systematic approach was adopted based on recent peer-reviewed studies to evaluate the physicochemical properties and biofunctional characteristics of these materials. The results indicate that recombinant proteins offer tunable mechanical and biochemical properties, exhibit tunable mechanical moduli ranging from ~0.5 to 50 kPa, mimicking native extracellular matrix components; meanwhile, microbial polysaccharides demonstrate high water retention (above 90%), structural flexibility, and bioadhesive potential, making these polysaccharides highly suitable for soft tissue engineering. These materials also enable encapsulation of growth factors, nucleic acids, and small-molecule drugs, facilitating spatiotemporal release and degradation half-lives between 1 and 6 weeks, aligned with tissue-specific repair processes. Therefore, biotechnologically derived DDSs represent a promising frontier for regenerative medicine, merging the precision of recombinant engineering with the scalability of microbial fermentation.