Gels | Special Issue : Gel-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment (2nd Edition)

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Gel-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment (2nd Edition)

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Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogels have been widely utilized to enable drug delivery for various diseases, especially cancer, as its unique features (e.g., ROS, GSH, hypoxia and acidic pH) are beneficial for the design of drug delivery systems. Numerous new drug delivery strategies based on functional hydrogels have been proposed in recent years. For example, injectable hydrogels can be implanted into tumor tissue in a minimally invasive manner to maintain a high drug concentration and reduce systemic toxic side effects. A pH-sensitive hydrogel maintains its stable state at a physiological pH but is labile at a mildly acidic pH in tumor microenvironments, which can be exploited for enhanced cancer therapy. Hydrogel vaccines show great potential in cancer immunotherapy by causing a potent and durable antitumor response. The development of hydrogels with desirable functionalities has a promising future in the intelligent therapy of cancer.

This Special Issue intends to highlight topics related to the use of functional gels in assisting the cancer treatment of therapeutic agents, delivering therapy-related components with different modes of administration. Additionally, gels used for stimuli-responsive drug release and for facilitating chemo-dynamic therapy, immunotherapy and thermotherapy will also be featured. In the first edition, 10 papers were published, which can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/gels/special_issues/4MZ9K195X2

Dr. Haoan Wu
Prof. Dr. Xingchun Gao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

functional hydrogel
stimuli-responsive hydrogel (endogenous stimulus: pH, GSH, ROS, MMP2, etc. exogenous stimuli: light, thermo, etc.)
bioinspired hydrogel
smart delivery hydrogel
injectable hydrogel (minimally invasive administration)
nanogel (systemic administration)
hydrogel for combination therapy
chemo-dynamic therapy
immunotherapy
thermotherapy
wound dressing or wound healing

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Research

21 pages, 6796 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Whole-Cell Vaccine Preparation Through Prussian Blue Nanoparticles-Elicited Immunogenic Cell Death and Loading in Gel Microneedles Patches

by Wenxin Fu, Qianqian Li, Jingyi Sheng, Haoan Wu, Ming Ma and Yu Zhang

Gels 2024, 10(12), 838; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels10120838 - 19 Dec 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 918

Abstract

Tumor whole-cell vaccines are designed to introduce a wide range of tumor-associated antigens into the body to counteract the immunosuppression caused by tumors. In cases of lymphoma of which the specific antigen is not yet determined, the tumor whole-cell vaccine offers distinct advantages. However, there is still a lack of research on an effective preparation method for the lymphoma whole-cell vaccine. To solve this challenge, we prepared a whole-cell vaccine derived from non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma (A20) via the photothermal effect mediated by Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs). The immune activation effect of this vaccine against lymphoma was verified at the cellular level. The PBNPs-treated A20 cells underwent immunogenic cell death (ICD), causing the loss of their ability to form tumors while retaining their ability to trigger an immune response. A20 cells that experienced ICD were further ultrasonically crushed to prepare the A20 whole-cell vaccine with exposed antigens and enhanced immunogenicity. The A20 whole-cell vaccine was able to activate the dendritic cells (DCs) to present antigens to T cells and trigger specific immune responses against lymphoma. Whole-cell vaccines are primarily administered through direct injection, a method that often results in low delivery efficiency and poor patient compliance. Comparatively, the microneedle patch system provides intradermal delivery, offering enhanced lymphatic absorption and improved patient adherence due to its minimally invasive approach. Thus, we developed a porous microneedle patch system for whole-cell vaccine delivery using Gelatin Methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel and n-arm-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (n-arm-PLGA). This whole-cell vaccine combined with porous gel microneedle patch delivery system has the potential to become a simple immunotherapy method with controllable production and represents a promising new direction for the treatment of lymphoma. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gel-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Treatment (2nd Edition))

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