Department of Biomedical Engineering, SKKU Institute for Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Gyeonggi, 16419, Republic of Korea.
Department of Intelligent Precision Healthcare Convergence, SKKU Institute for Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Gyeonggi, 16419, Republic of Korea.
Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2022 Apr;19(2):263-280. doi: 10.1007/s13770-021-00369-6. Epub 2021 Oct 1.
Cancer immunotherapy has become the new paradigm of cancer treatment. The introduction and discovery of various therapeutic agents have also accelerated the application of immunotherapy in clinical trials. However, despite the significant potency and demonstrated advantages of cancer immunotherapy, its clinical application to patients faces several safety and efficacy issues, including autoimmune reactions, cytokine release syndrome, and vascular leak syndrome-related issues. In addressing these problems, biomaterials traditionally used for tissue engineering and drug delivery are attracting attention. Among them, hydrogels can be easily injected into tumors with drugs, and they can minimize side effects by retaining immune therapeutics at the tumor site for a long time. This article reviews the status of functional hydrogels for effective cancer immunotherapy. First, we describe the basic mechanisms of cancer immunotherapy and the advantages of using hydrogels to apply these mechanisms. Next, we summarize recent advances in the development of functional hydrogels designed to locally release various immunotherapeutic agents, including cytokines, cancer immune vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and chimeric antigen receptor-T cells. Finally, we briefly discuss the current problems and possible prospects of hydrogels for effective cancer immunotherapy.
癌症免疫疗法已成为癌症治疗的新模式。各种治疗药物的引入和发现也加速了免疫疗法在临床试验中的应用。然而，尽管癌症免疫疗法具有显著的疗效和优势，但将其应用于患者的临床实践仍面临着一些安全性和疗效问题，包括自身免疫反应、细胞因子释放综合征和血管渗漏综合征相关问题。在解决这些问题时，传统用于组织工程和药物输送的生物材料引起了人们的关注。其中，水凝胶可以与药物一起轻松地注入肿瘤，并且可以通过将免疫治疗剂长时间保留在肿瘤部位来最小化副作用。本文综述了用于有效癌症免疫治疗的功能性水凝胶的现状。首先，我们描述了癌症免疫疗法的基本机制以及使用水凝胶来应用这些机制的优势。接下来，我们总结了最近在开发用于局部释放各种免疫治疗剂的功能性水凝胶方面的进展，包括细胞因子、癌症免疫疫苗、免疫检查点抑制剂和嵌合抗原受体-T 细胞。最后，我们简要讨论了水凝胶在有效癌症免疫治疗方面存在的问题和可能的前景。
