Advanced biomaterials and delivery modalities to alleviate cancer therapy-induced inflammation.

Abstract

Inflammation, classified as a typical cancer hallmark, plays a double-edged sword in the progression and treatment of cancer. Chronic and long-term inflammation drives cancer development, while acute inflammatory reactions often lead to anti-cancer immune responses by stimulating the body's adaptive immunity. However, the over-inflammation post-treatment was usually neglected, which not only impedes therapeutic outcomes but also exacerbates tumor aggressiveness and metastatic spread. Mitigating therapy-induced inflammation has emerged as a critical research frontier to augment therapeutic efficacy and bolster patients' life quality. Herein, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammation induced by cancer therapy as well as the inflammatory side effects were summarized. A range of anti-inflammatory drugs/agents based on emerging biomaterials and novel delivery modalities are compared in light of current clinical advances and experimental results. More importantly, various inflammation-modulating strategies involved in traditional cancer therapies (encompassing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy) and modern novel treatment strategies such as immunotherapy, photothermal therapy, and combination therapies were discussed in detail. Finally, the potential opportunities and challenges existing in inflammation modulation when combined with multiple therapeutic techniques were analyzed with the aim of providing deep and cutting-edge insights for the development of novel inflammation-modulated therapeutics in oncology and therapy-induced inflammatory diseases.