Biomaterial-Driven Integrated Therapy for Renal Cell Carcinoma: Renal Cancer Control and Kidney Injury Repair

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a highly heterogeneous malignancy that arises from the renal tubular epithelium, has exhibited a rising incidence in recent years and has become the predominant urologic malignancy, posing a major threat to human health and life. Although our understanding of RCC has advanced, treatment remains challenging owing to low specificity and sensitivity, particularly with respect to postoperative recurrence and therapy-induced renal injury. Therefore, effective strategies that can improve therapeutic outcomes are urgently needed. In recent years, the expanding investigation of materials for biomedical applications has identified several constructs with promising clinical potential; compared with traditional drugs, these materials offer superior targeting, an improved safety profile, and a broader array of functions and synergistic effects that can effectively overcome RCC recurrence, drug resistance, and metastasis. Moreover, biomaterials can attenuate renal damage and inhibit renal fibrosis, thereby preserving renal function. In this review, we present a comprehensive examination of the current landscape and future directions of biomaterials for RCC and renal injury treatment. We propose an integrated antitumor and kidney protection strategy and establish an analytical framework rooted in the fundamental contradictions of material design, encompassing functional conflicts, stimuli-responsive activation, and metabolic safety. This approach provides novel insights into overcoming critical challenges in the field.