Multicomponent Hydrogels for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Multicomponent hydrogels have proved to be extraordinarily useful tools in the cancer field, bringing a wide range of opportunities in important areas such as treatment, diagnosis, prevention, and research. Regarding treatment, innovative therapies are being developed to promote the controlled and sustained release of therapeutic compounds. As demonstrated by the positive results obtained by the approved formulations and those in clinical trials, the use of multicomponent hydrogels potentially promotes therapeutic efficacy enhancement, and reduction of adverse effects, drug resistance, and the number of necessary administrations. At the diagnostic level, hydrogels have been used to identify and monitor the tumour during the treatment, allowing a much more accurate follow-up of the therapeutic outcomes. At the prevention level, numerous formulations are developed for the prevention of radiotherapy- and/or chemotherapy-based secondary effects. Therefore, in general, hydrogels are expected to have a great impact on both patient welfare and survival. Finally, it is also important to mention the importance of hydrogels in the research field, permitting the development of 3D cell cultures that mimic more accurately the tumour conditions, improving exponentially the precision of the experimental results. This increases the in vitro/in vivo correlations allowing a timely and accurate translation of the research to the clinic.