Extremely Rapid Gelling Curcumin Silk-Tyrosine Crosslinked Hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: Systemic chemotherapy is still the first-line treatment for cancer, and it's associated with toxic side effects, chemoresistance, and ultimately cancer recurrence. Rapid gelling hydrogels can overcome this limitation by providing localized delivery of anti-cancer agents to solid tumors. Silk hydrogels are extremely biocompatible and suitable for anti-cancer drug delivery, but faster gelling formulations are needed. In this study, we introduce a rapid gelling hydrogel formulation (<3 min gelling time) due to chemical crosslinking between silk fibroin and curcumin, initiated by the addition of minute quantities of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). The novel observation in this study is that curcumin, while being a free-radical scavenger, also pa

SUBMITTER: Sundarakrishnan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12027036 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature