Convergence of Immunotherapy, Targeted Therapy, and Biomaterials: A Comprehensive Review of Integrated Approaches in Oncology

Cancer is still a problem that causes a lot of deaths around the world. The usual treatments for cancer do not always work well. Can have bad side effects. Lately doctors have been trying ways to treat cancer that are more precise. These new ways include helping the body’s immune system fight cancer and using drugs that target the bad cells. Using just one of these methods can be tricky. The cancer cells can be different from each other get used to the drugs and stop responding to treatment after a while. This article looks at how three important areas of research can work cancer immunotherapy, targeted therapy and biomaterials science and how cancer immunotherapy and cancer treatment methods like targeted therapy can be improved with biomaterials science. Cancer treatment is getting better, with cancer immunotherapy and targeted therapy. Cancer is still a problem that needs to be solved. We talk about the ways that immune checkpoint inhibitors work. This includes things like CAR-T cell therapy, monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines and adoptive cell transfer therapies. We also look at targeted therapies, such as molecule inhibitors. These are things like tyrosine kinase inhibitors, CDK inhibitors and PARP inhibitors. We discuss therapeutic monoclonal antibodies that target specific growth factor receptors. We also explore how engineered biomaterials can help. These include things like nanoparticles, hydrogels and scaffolds. They can help get drugs to where they need to go make the immune system respond better and change the environment around a tumor. The immune checkpoint inhibitors and cancer vaccines and all these other things like CAR-T cell therapy and monoclonal antibodies are important. The engineered biomaterials like nanoparticles and hydrogels can make a difference, in how well the immune system works and how well the drugs work. The integration of these three therapeutic approaches offers synergistic benefits that overcome resistance mechanisms and improve clinical outcomes. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence support combination strategies, particularly in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. However, significant challenges remain, including optimal sequencing, patient selection, and management of cumulative toxicity. This review synthesises current evidence and outlines future directions for personalised combination therapies that harness the power of convergent approaches in oncology.