Gato-Diaz Uxia, Concheiro Angel, Alvarez-Lorenzo Carmen, Blanco-Fernandez Barbara
I+D Farma Group (GI-1645), Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Institute of Materials (iMATUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2025 Jul 30:1-17. doi: 10.1080/17425247.2025.2539959.
Cancer remains a global challenge, driving the need for improved therapies and delivery systems. The customizable and controllable nature of 4D-printed, stimuli-responsive hydrogels underscores their potential in this context. By engineering these hydrogels to respond to specific tumor-associated stimuli, therapeutic efficacy can be enhanced while minimizing side effects, advancing the goals of precision oncology.
This review examines the types of stimuli used to design stimuli-sensitive hydrogels and their activation mechanisms. It summarizes recent advancements in 4D-printed, stimuli-responsive hydrogels for cancer treatment, assessing their potential, development stage, and limitations. The review also explores future directions, emphasizing the promise of 4D cancer models for drug screening due to their enhanced physiological complexity. Literature was sourced from CAS SciFinder, PubMed, and Google Scholar, focusing on studies from the past 10 years.
4D hydrogels offer a novel approach to personalized cancer therapy but are still in the early stages of development. Continued research into innovative stimuli-responsive polymers with suitable rheological properties for 3D printing is essential. Among emerging strategies, NIR-responsive 4D hydrogels, especially when combined with temperature-responsive systems, appear the most advanced and promising. Ongoing studies are vital to establish their role in precision oncology and translational medicine.
癌症仍然是一项全球性挑战，这推动了对改进治疗方法和递送系统的需求。4D打印的、对刺激有响应的水凝胶具有可定制和可控的特性，这凸显了它们在这方面的潜力。通过对这些水凝胶进行工程设计，使其对特定的肿瘤相关刺激做出反应，可以提高治疗效果，同时将副作用降至最低，推进精准肿瘤学的目标。
本综述研究了用于设计对刺激敏感的水凝胶的刺激类型及其激活机制。它总结了4D打印的、对刺激有响应的水凝胶在癌症治疗方面的最新进展，评估了它们的潜力、发展阶段和局限性。该综述还探讨了未来的方向，强调了4D癌症模型因其增强的生理复杂性而在药物筛选方面的前景。文献来源于CAS SciFinder、PubMed和谷歌学术，重点关注过去10年的研究。
4D水凝胶为个性化癌症治疗提供了一种新方法，但仍处于发展初期。继续研究具有适合3D打印流变学特性的创新型对刺激有响应的聚合物至关重要。在新兴策略中，近红外响应型4D水凝胶，尤其是与温度响应系统结合时，似乎是最先进且最有前景的。正在进行的研究对于确定它们在精准肿瘤学和转化医学中的作用至关重要。
