Progress of Research in In Situ Smart Hydrogels for Local Antitumor Therapy: A Review

Cancer seriously threatens human health. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the three pillars of traditional cancer treatment, with targeted therapy and immunotherapy emerging over recent decades. Standard drug regimens are mostly executed via intravenous injection (IV), especially for chemotherapy agents. However, these treatments pose severe risks, including off-target toxic side effects, low drug accumulation and penetration at the tumor site, repeated administration, etc., leading to inadequate treatment and failure to meet patients’ needs. Arising from these challenges, a local regional anticancer strategy has been proposed to enhance therapeutic efficacy and concomitantly reduce systemic toxicity. With the advances in biomaterials and our understanding of the tumor microenvironment, in situ stimulus-responsive hydrogels, also called smart hydrogels, have been extensively investigated for local anticancer therapy due to their injectability, compatibility and responsiveness to various stimuli (pH, enzyme, heat, light, magnetic fields, electric fields etc.). Herein, we focus on the latest progress regarding various stimuli that cause phase transition and drug release from smart hydrogels in local regional anticancer therapy. Additionally, the challenges and future trends of the reviewed in situ smart hydrogels for local drug delivery are summarized and proposed.