Fig. 1

An overview of the application of hydrogels in the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors. Hydrogels have been utilized in the treatment different gastrointestinal tumors including liver cancer, gastric tumor, colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Hydrogels can deliver drugs including phytochemicals and synthetic compounds to accelerate tumor suppression. Moreover, they accelerate immunotherapy through induction of dendritic cells and subsequent induction of T cells. The tumor biomarkers can be detected by hydrogels to increase cancer diagnosis. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels including thermo-, pH- and enzyme-sensitive hydrogels have been designed to accelerate gastrointestinal cancer therapy. Other kinds of nanoparticles including liposomes, micelles and quantum dots can be loaded in hydrogels for the cancer diagnosis and therapy. Despite using genetic tools in gastrointestinal cancer therapy, they suffer from poor bioavailability and therefore, their loading in hydrogels can increase the potential in tumor suppression. (Created by Biorender.com)