Application of Hydrogels as Carrier in Tumor Therapy: A Review

Abstract

Cancer is one of the most intractable diseases in the world because of its high recurrence rate, high metastasis rate and high lethality rate. Traditional chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery have unsatisfactory therapeutic effects and cause many severe side effects at the same time. Hydrogel is a new type of biomaterial with the advantages of good biocompatibility and easy degradation, which can be used as a carrier of functional nanomaterials for tumor therapy. Herein, we represent the progress of hydrogels with different skeletons and their application as carrier in tumor treatment. The hydrogels are listed as polyethylene glycolbased hydrogels, chitosan-based hydrogels, peptide-based hydrogels, hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels, steroid-based hydrogels and other hydrogels by skeletons, and their properties, modifications and toxicities were introduced. Some representative applications of combined hydrogels with nanomaterial for chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, sonodynamic therapy, chemodynamic therapy and synergistic therapy are highlighted.

A pH-responsive ZC-QPP hydrogel for synergistic antibacterial and antioxidant treatment to enhance wound healing

“…3 In recent years, the unique three-dimensional porous structure and good biocompatibility of hydrogels have received great interest. [4][5][6][7][8] Compared with other types of wound treatment materials, hydrogels as wound dressings, especially chitosan-based hydrogels, have good biocompatibility and are able to form a physical barrier to protect a wound, as well as adsorbing exudates, keeping the wound environment moist, helping tissue cells to migrate and proliferate, and also having certain hemostatic, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound healing functions. 9,10 However, the mechanical properties of pure chitosan hydrogels are poor and insufficient to repair wounds in a short period of time.…”

Recent Development of Functional Chitosan-Based Hydrogels for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications

“…In addition, these hydrogels exhibit many advantages, i.e., good biocompatibility and easy degradation. Applications of hydrogels combined with chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, sonodynamic therapy, chemodynamic therapy, and synergistic therapy also enable promising cancer treatment strategies [ 197 ]. For the first-line drug, doxorubicin is chemically conjugated with acrylate chitosan to obtain sustained-release profiles after injection and to treat solid tumors, especially in breast cancer, which requires long chemotherapy management.…”

Recent Advances in Hydrogel-Based Phototherapy for Tumor Treatment

“…Hydrogels are 3D networks of polymers that contain a significant amount of water or other fluids. Due to their high water content and cross-linked structure, hydrogels have potential for the encapsulation and delivery of photosensitizers/photothermal agents [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Furthermore, the characteristics of hydrogels, such as surface topography, porosity, and mechanical strength, depend largely on the properties of the polymers used and the mechanism of polymeric cross-linking [ 45 , 46 ].…”

“…As a result, this approach can enhance therapeutic efficacy while reducing phototoxicity from phototherapy [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. In addition, hydrogels also offer a versatile platform that shows significant potential to complement other tumor treatments such as immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, and exhibit excellent synergistic antitumor efficacy ( Figure 1 ) [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”