Abstract Atraumatic tissue adhesive technology is highly desired for ophthalmic surgery, while numerous polymeric adhesives still face significant limitations in clinical ophthalmology, especially corneal transplantation. The biggest challenge is achieving rapid adhesion without creating polymer barrier or chemical toxicity from cross-linking. To develop a cornea-specific adhesive, we introduced a novel nanoadhesive constructed through protein-DNA co-assembly and applied it in corneal transplantation. Within this system, a rigid tetrahedral DNA framework was used to guide the spatial distribution of the polycationic recombinant proteins (K72) and act as the core of nanoadhesive for energy conversion during connecting tissues. The adhesive strength of this nanoadhesive achieved 2.3 kPa between corneal lenticules. After RGD peptide modification, this adhesive system significantly improved corneal epithelialization, reduced inflammation and neovascularization, and finally facilitated corneal repairing. This work is the first attempt of nanoadhesive in ophthalmic surgery, and provides a solution to develop novel ophthalmic-specific adhesives for clinical application.
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