Marques Ana Camila, Costa Paulo Cardoso, Velho Sérgia, Amaral Maria Helena
UCIBIO-Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, MEDTECH, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, R. Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
Associate Laboratory i4HB-Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, R. Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
Gels. 2023 Jul 24;9(7):593. doi: 10.3390/gels9070593.
The widespread push to invest in local cancer therapies comes from the need to overcome the limitations of systemic treatment options. In contrast to intravenous administration, local treatments using intratumoral or peritumoral injections are independent of tumor vasculature and allow high concentrations of therapeutic agents to reach the tumor site with minimal systemic toxicity. Injectable biodegradable hydrogels offer a clear advantage over other delivery systems because the former requires no surgical procedures and promotes drug retention at the tumor site. More precisely, in situ gelling systems based on poloxamers have garnered considerable attention due to their thermoresponsive behavior, biocompatibility, ease of preparation, and possible incorporation of different anticancer agents. Therefore, this review focuses on the use of injectable thermoresponsive hydrogels based on poloxamers and their physicochemical and biological characterization. It also includes a summary of these hydrogel applications in local cancer therapies using chemotherapy, phototherapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy.
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