Abstract
Pancreatic cancer remains a highly lethal malignancy because of delayed diagnosis, dense stromal architecture, limited intratumoral drug penetration, systemic treatment-related toxicity, and frequent postoperative recurrence. These challenges have created a need for functional biomaterials that can be applied locally to the tumor or surgical bed while providing controlled therapeutic delivery and favorable interactions with surrounding tissues.
Hydrogels are promising biomaterial platforms for this purpose because their composition, crosslinking, network structure, degradation, mechanical behavior, and surface chemistry can be tailored to provide injectability, in situ gelation, wet-tissue adhesion, local retention, and sustained payload release. This review critically examines hydrogel biomaterial platforms for local pancreatic cancer therapy, with emphasis on material design, functional properties, tissue interaction, therapeutic integration, and translational performance. Representative applications include postoperative adhesive hydrogels, localized chemotherapeutic depots, photothermal and sonodynamic systems, radiotherapy-assisting hydrogel spacers, and immunomodulatory hydrogels.
Particular attention is given to the relationships between biomaterial properties and clinical function, including how gelation behavior, adhesion, swelling, degradation, payload retention, and mechanical stability influence local therapeutic performance. Current limitations, including formulation complexity, uncertain degradation behavior, insufficient large-animal validation, sterilization compatibility, manufacturing reproducibility, and clinically feasible administration, are critically discussed. A translational roadmap and comparative readiness framework are further proposed to distinguish relatively mature hydrogel systems from platforms that require substantial biomaterial and preclinical optimization. Overall, hydrogel biomaterials provide a versatile interface between local drug delivery, tissue management, and multimodal pancreatic cancer therapy, although their successful translation will depend on reproducible material performance and rigorous biological evaluation.