Overview of implantable and injectable biomaterials in immunotherapy

Immunotherapy has shown promising applications in cancer treatment as it boosts the systemic immune response. Existing immunotherapy strategies have certain drawbacks which can be addressed by engineered biomaterials. In this review, we focused on advanced immunotherapy methods involving implantable and injectable biomaterials for the treatment of cancer. Engineered biomaterials as carriers for immunomodulatory agents aid in the local drug delivery, thus reducing the frequency of off-target side effects. Also, biomaterial-based cancer vaccines have the potential to target specific tissues by finely altering the physical properties of the drug to achieve desired drug release kinetics