Leveraging Self-Healing Hydrogels for Cancer Management: Synthesis, Targeting Strategies, and Clinical Progress

Abstract

Cancer has become a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with an estimated 20 million cases and 9.7 million deaths reported globally in 2022, highlighting the urgent need for effective strategies in early detection and management─an area that continues to draw significant attention from researchers across the globe. Among the various available formulation strategies, self-healing hydrogels (SHHGs) have drawn attention by virtue of their dynamic, biocompatible, and stimuli-responsive properties, which are useful in detecting and treating cancer. Their ability to reassemble after deformation ensures prolonged stability at the tumor site, enhancing therapeutic efficacy and reducing systemic toxicity. These attributes have led SHHGs to be extensively explored for the local delivery of cancer chemotherapeutics. This Review thoroughly discusses the synthesis approaches of SHHGs, including self-healing mechanisms, the applications of SHHGs in cancer diagnosis, and drug delivery emphasizing smart SHHGs. Furthermore, applications of SHHGs in cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy and the clinical trial statuses of various once-directed SHHGs have also been discussed. Moreover, this Review also highlights the challenges faced by SHHGs due to the dearth of preclinical efficacy data and hurdles to clinical transition.