Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems for enhanced tumor therapy

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.