The main objective of this research is to systematically summarize the characteristics of keratin-based materials and their current applications in the tissue engineering field, with a particular emphasis on highlighting their unique advantages over other traditional protein-based materials (such as collagen and silk fibroin). An electronic literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus was conducted, identifying publications related to keratin-based materials and their application in tissue engineering. The majority of literature was published between 2015 and 2025. The structure of keratins, which is rich in disulfide bonds, gives it unique advantages in the field of tissue engineering, such as sustainability, versatility, and controllable degradability. Future research in this area could focus on improving the brittleness of keratin, developing more stable extracting sources, such as marine-derived sources, and conducting long-term clinical trials.
Impact Statement
Keratin-based materials have great potential in tissue regeneration and repair. This article reviews the research progress of keratin-based materials in recent years and summarizes the advantages of keratin-based products in tissue engineering fields, which contributes to the development of tissue engineering scaffolds.
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