'tissue-based' is a modern English compound formed from 'tissue' + 'based', where 'tissue' refers to biological tissue and 'based' is the past participle/adjective from 'base' meaning 'having a foundation or basis in'.

'tissue' comes from Old French 'tissu' (past participle of 'tisser', 'to weave'), originally meaning 'woven fabric' and later extended to 'texture' and to biological 'tissue'; 'base' comes via Old French 'bas(e)' from Latin Greek 'basis' meaning 'foundation'. The compound 'tissue-based' arose in modern scientific English to mean 'having a basis in tissue'.

Initially, 'tissue' primarily referred to woven fabric and texture; over time it acquired the biological sense 'group of cells with a common function', and 'tissue-based' came to mean 'grounded in biological tissue' in modern usage.