# Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems for enhanced tumor therapy

## TL;DR

Hydrogels offer a promising drug delivery system for cancer therapy by improving drug targeting and reducing side effects.

## Contribution

This paper reviews how hydrogels can enhance cancer treatments by enabling controlled drug release and modulating the tumor environment.

## Key findings

- Hydrogels allow localized and sustained drug delivery, improving therapeutic outcomes.
- They can modulate the tumor microenvironment to overcome drug resistance and enhance treatment efficacy.
- Hydrogels are versatile for various cancer therapies, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

## Abstract

Cancer remains a major global health challenge, with current treatment modalities like surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy often hampered by limitations such as systemic toxicity, drug resistance, and an immuno-suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Hydrogel technology emerges as a transformative platform to overcome these hurdles. The unique three-dimensional network structure of hydrogels allows for high drug loading, localized sustained release, and exceptional tunability. This review highlights the innovative applications of hydrogel systems in enhancing various antitumor modalities, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, phototherapy, gene therapy, and their combinations. By enabling spatiotemporally controlled delivery and modulating the TME, hydrogels significantly improve therapeutic efficacy while minimizing off-target effects. The purpose of this study is to describe some of the latest developments in the use of hydrogels for the treatment of cancer.

This review highlights hydrogel-based platforms for spatiotemporally controlled, localized cancer therapy, overcoming drug resistance and modulating the tumor microenvironment to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity for multiple treatment modalities.