Polysaccharide based supramolecular injectable hydrogels for in situ treatment of bladder cancer

Implantable system maximizes drug concentration and continuously releases drugs near the tumor, which is an effective tool to solve the difficult retention of chemotherapy drugs in bladder cancer. In this work, a novel polysaccharide supramolecular injectable hydrogel (CCA hydrogels for short) is rapidly constructed by simply mixing cationic chitosan, anionic sulfobutyl ether β-cyclodextrin (SBE-β-CD) and a trace amount of silver ions. The injected hydrogel reconstituted and regained its shape in less than 1 h, and it can still maintain the elasticity suitable for the human body. By packaging the drug directly, the gel achieves a high concentration of doxorubicin, an anticancer drug. Using MB49-luc cells as the model of bladder tumor for anti-tumor in vivo, the CCA-DOX gel has obvious inhibitory effect on bladder tumor, and its inhibitory effect is much greater than that of free DOX. Therefore, this self-healing injectable hydrogel has great potential for in situ treatment of bladder cancer.