Role of thermal and reactive oxygen species-responsive synthetic hydrogels in localized cancer treatment (bibliometric analysis and review)

Cancer is a major pharmaceutical challenge that necessitates improved care. Modern anti-cancer drugs require well-designed carriers to deliver and release them at the intended location. Hydrogel delivery systems are efficient and therapeutically beneficial in situ anti-cancer drug delivery platforms. Hydrogels exhibit excellent biocompatibility, biodegradation pathways, and minimal immunogenicity. Their stimuli-responsive characteristics, such as thermo-response and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-response, make hydrogels ideal for sustained local drug delivery and controlled drug release. Recently, synthetically manufactured thermal and ROS-responsive smart hydrogels enhance treatment efficacy by minimizing toxicities associated with non-carrier-mediated anti-cancer drug delivery. In this review, we discuss synthetically manufactured thermal (poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM), Pluronic, and polyethylene glycol (PEG)) and ROS-responsive copolymer hydrogels and their application in local anti-cancer drug delivery. We also addressed an extensive bibliometric analysis of the keyword “hydrogels for cancer treatment” to generate the country, source, documents, and author-based rankings maps.