Using scaffolds as drug delivery systems to treat bone tumor

Surgery is the principal strategy to treat osteosarcoma and other types of bone tumors, but it causes bone defects that cannot be healed spontaneously. After surgery, patients still need to receive radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy to prevent tumor recurrence and metastasis, which leads to systemic side effects. Bone scaffolds exhibit the potentials to load cargos (drugs or growth factors) and act as drug delivery systems (DDSs) in the osteosarcoma postoperative treatment. This review introduces current types of bone scaffolds and highlights representative works using scaffolds as DDSs to treat osteosarcomas. Challenges and perspectives in the scaffold-based DDSs are also discussed. This review may provide references to develop effective and safe strategies for osteosarcoma postoperative treatment.