Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and Bose Institute Kolkata undertook a study to produce an injectable hydrogel for the treatment of breast cancer. This innovative hydrogel-based therapy delivers anti-cancer drugs directly to tumour sites, significantly reducing the side effects typically associated with conventional cancer treatments.
The research was co-authored by Professor Debapratim Das, along with his research associates Ritvika Kushwaha and Tanushree Das from IIT Guwahati, and collaborators Dr Kuldip Jana, Satyajit Halder, and Anup Kumar Misra from Bose Institute Kolkata.
While speaking about the functioning of hydrogel in curing other types of tumours, Das confirmed that “the tests were conducted specifically for breast cancer”.
“It might be possible that all types of tumour —except leukaemia— can be cured with this innovation, however, we are yet to test it on other organs,” he told THE WEEK.
Since leukaemia mainly affects the blood cells present in the bone marrow and the blood, its treatment differs from that of a conventional tumour.
With millions of patients worldwide, cancer remains a major global health issue. Treatments such as chemotherapy and surgical interventions often entail severe limitations. Surgical removal of tumours — especially for the internal organs — is sometimes not feasible. Whereas, chemotherapy’s systemic distribution often has harmful side effects, affecting both cancerous and healthy cells.
“In this research, we have developed a low-molecular-weight, dipeptide gelator,” stated Tanushree Das, one of the research associates involved in the study. It forms a hydrogel in the basic medium. Although it is a supramolecular hydrogel, it is insoluble in water. But it can be solubilised in the presence of a GSH.” she said.
She further added that “cancerous cells are overexpressed with GSH”, hence the aim was "to test if the hydrogelator can be used for cancer treatment”.
Hydrogels are three-dimensional, water-rich polymer networks capable of absorbing and retaining fluids. Their distinctive structures resemble living tissues, making them ideal for use in biomedical applications. This newly developed hydrogel acts as a stable reservoir for anti-cancer drugs and releases them in a controlled manner, responding to specific conditions in the tumour microenvironment.
The hydrogel, produced from ultra-short peptides—biocompatible and biodegradable protein building blocks—is designed to remain insoluble in biological fluids, ensuring it stays confined to the injected site. Sensitive to elevated glutathione (GSH) levels, a molecule prevalent in tumour cells, the hydrogel initiates a controlled release of the drug upon detecting high GSH concentrations. This targeted mechanism delivers the drug directly to the tumour, reducing its interaction with healthy tissues and minimising systemic side effects.
In preclinical trials using a murine model of breast cancer, the hydrogel demonstrated exceptional effectiveness. A single dose of the hydrogel, infused with the chemotherapy drug Doxorubicin, achieved approximately a 75% reduction in tumour size within 18 days. Notably, the hydrogel stayed localised at the tumour site, providing a sustained release of the drug without impacting other drugs.
This delivery system amplifies the drug's efficiency while lowering the required dosage, thereby reducing toxicity. Laboratory experiments also revealed that the hydrogel enhances drug absorption by cancer cells, triggers cell cycle arrest, and stimulates programmed cell death, targeting tumours through multiple mechanisms.
Further studies — aiming to determine the maximum tumour size reduction achievable with a single dose of the hydrogel — are underway.
