Advanced Hydrogels in Breast Cancer Therapy

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women and is the second leading cause of cancer-related death for women. Depending on the tumor grade and stage, breast cancer is primarily treated with surgery and antineoplastic therapy. Direct or indirect side effects, emotional trauma, and unpredictable outcomes accompany these traditional therapies, calling for therapies that could improve the overall treatment and recovery experiences of patients. Hydrogels, biomimetic materials with 3D network structures, have shown great promise for augmenting breast cancer therapy. Hydrogel implants can be made with adipogenic and angiogenic properties for tissue integration. 3D organoids of malignant breast tumors grown in hydrogels retain the physical and genetic characteristics of the native tumors, allowing for post-surgery recapitulation of the diseased tissues for precision medicine assessment of the responsiveness of patient-specific cancers to antineoplastic treatment. Hydrogels can also be used as carrier matrices for delivering chemotherapeutics and immunotherapeutics or as post-surgery prosthetic scaffolds. The hydrogel delivery systems could achieve localized and controlled medication release targeting the tumor site, enhancing efficacy and minimizing the adverse effects of therapeutic agents delivered by traditional procedures. This review aims to summarize the most recent advancements in hydrogel utilization for breast cancer post-surgery tissue reconstruction, tumor modeling, and therapy and discuss their limitations in clinical translation.