Work

Targeting drug cocktail hydrogel platform for inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The combination therapy could overcome the limitation of monotherapy to inhibit tumor recurrence and metastasis, but is usually constrained by complex fabrication processes. Here, a tunable hydrogel platform was developed using different silk nanocarriers, which independently achieve flexible functional optimization of various drugs. Silk nanorods (SNR) were modified with cRGDfK peptides to achieve targeting ability to tumor vessels and then loaded with hydrophobic vascular inhibitor Combretastatin A4 (CA4). The loading of CA4 and the targeted modification could be tuned to enhance the destruction of tumor vessels. Both hydrophilic doxorubicin (DOX) and hydrophobic paclitaxel (PTX) were co-loaded on silk nanofibers (SNF) to form injectable hydrogels with optimized combination chemotherapy. The drug-laden SNR and SNF were blended directly to form injectable hydrogels without the compromise of drug biological activity. Both the targeting modification of SNR and the optimized co-delivery of DOX and PTX improved the therapeutic efficiency in vitro and in vivo . The long-term inhibition of tumor recurrence and metastasis was achieved through the injectable silk nanocarriers, which are superior to previous combination chemotherapy systems of DOX and PTX. The gradual modular fabrication process and simple physical blending endowed the systems with high flexibility and tunability, suggesting a suitable platform for designing a drug cocktail system. Drug cocktail hydrogel platform with targeting capacity for long-term inhibition tumor recurrence and metastasis was developed with different silk nanocarriers without the compromise of their respective biological activity. • Drug cocktail hydrogel platform was developed with different silk nanocarriers for long-term inhibition tumor recurrence and metastasis. • The platform could load multiple drugs and endow with targeting capacity and responsive ability for synergistic reaction. • The platform with designable biological functions could meet multiple needs of tumor treatment, bringing optimal therapeutic efficiency. Statement of Significance: Combination therapy is a promising strategy to inhibit tumor recurrence and metastasis, but is limited by complex fabrication processes and inferior optimization of various therapies. Our present work provides a powerful platform for fusing various therapies to optimize the treatment effect. Compared to other reported combination therapy strategies, the present hydrogel platform showed better controllability and designability. Besides the co-loading of multiple drugs, more functions, such as targeting capacity and responsive ability, could be introduced easily to improve the synergistic reaction of various cargos. The excellent inhibition of both tumor growth and metastasis confirmed the advantages of the hydrogel system. Our present study makes it possible to design specific biological functions based on multiple needs of tumor treatment, which has a promising future in combination therapy with optimal therapeutic efficiency.

Source: Materials Today Bio

DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2025.101798

Authors: Liying Xiao, Jianwen Hou, Hongxiang Liu, Qiang Lu

Institutions: Soochow University, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Bengbu Medical College, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University

Language: English

Topic: Silk-based biomaterials and applications

Subfield: Biomaterials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,400