Recent Developments in Protein-Based Hydrogels for Advanced Drug Delivery Applications

Protein-based hydrogels are increasingly recognized as promising biomaterials for advanced drug delivery, owing to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ability to recreate extracellular matrix-like environments. By tailoring the protein source, crosslinking strategy, molecular architecture, and functionalization, these hydrogels can be engineered to mimic the mechanical and biological features of native tissues. Protein-derived hydrogels are currently explored across biomedical and pharmaceutical fields, including drug delivery systems, wound healing, tissue engineering, and, notably, cancer therapy. In recent years, growing attention has been directed toward natural protein hydrogels because of their inherent bioactivity and versatile physicochemical properties. This review provides an updated overview of protein-based hydrogel classification, properties, and fabrication methods. It highlights several widely studied natural proteins, such as gelatin, collagen, silk fibroin, soy protein, casein, and whey protein, that can form hydrogels through physical, chemical, or enzymatic crosslinking. These materials offer tunable mechanical behavior, controllable degradation rates, and abundant functional groups that support efficient drug loading and the development of stimuli-responsive platforms. Furthermore, we examine current advances in their application as drug delivery systems, with particular emphasis on cancer treatment. Protein-based hydrogels have demonstrated the ability to protect therapeutic molecules, provide sustained or targeted release, and enhance therapeutic effectiveness. Although critical challenges, such as batch-to-batch variability, sterilization-induced denaturation, and the requirement for comprehensive long-term immunogenicity assessment, must still be addressed to enable successful translation from preclinical studies to clinical application, ongoing advances in the design and functionalization of natural protein hydrogels highlight their promise as next-generation platforms for precision drug delivery.