Research Progress on Natural Polysaccharide Hydrogels in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is a prevalent global malignant tumor, and conventional therapies and drugs for CRC are limited by poor targeting and severe toxic side effects. Existing reviews on hydrogel-based CRC treatments mainly focus on synthetic materials or single-responsive systems concerning drug loading and local delivery. Natural polysaccharides possess inherent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor activities, and polysaccharide hydrogels (PSHs) prepared from them exhibit favorable biocompatibility, tunable structures and potential targeting capability, which can synergistically enhance the efficacy of loaded drugs and thus become a research hotspot. This article summarizes the pathogenesis and conventional treatments of CRC, introduces monocomponent and composite PSHs as well as physical and chemical crosslinking methods, and emphasizes their tumor microenvironment (TME)-responsive mechanisms, combined drug effects and clinical applications. It also analyzes the challenges in safety evaluation and practical application, and summarizes recent advances in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for PSHs design, regulation, performance prediction and implementation. This paper serves as a reference for follow-up research and clinical translation of hydrogels prepared from natural polysaccharides for the treatment of CRC.