Nanotechnology empowered localized cancer chemotherapy has indicated a promising performance for targeting and controlled release of anticancer agents over a period of time to eliminate local-regional recurrence of cancers and also to improve the tissue regeneration during/after treatment. Electrospun nanofiber-based implantable drug-delivery systems have been established as one of the most effective approaches for localized cancer treatment, allowing the on-site delivery of anticancer agents and reducing systemic toxicities and side effects to normal cells. The present review aimed to summarize the latest cutting-edge research on applications of electrospun-based systems for local chemotherapy. Meantime, in vitro and in vivo studies conducted using various anticancer agents along with the capability of electrospun nanofibers for combinatorial/synergistic chemotherapy as well as existing challenges and the potential dramatic advances in applying this pioneering approach for clinical transition in localized treatments of cancer is also discussed. K E Y W O R D S chemotherapy, drug delivery, electrospun nanofiber Recent advances in electrospun nanofiber-mediated drug delivery strategies for localized cancer chemotherapy.

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Electrospun nanofibers (NFs)‐based drug delivery approaches are of particular interest as a hopeful implantable nanoplatform for localized cancer therapy and treating tissue defect after resection, allowing the on‐site drug delivery with minimal side effect to healthy cells. To maintain therapeutic concentrations of anticancer molecules for a relatively long time through a combination of burst and sustained drug release mechanisms, a hybrid of polycaprolactone and gelatin (PCL/GEL) was used for co‐encapsulation of free curcumin (CUR) and CUR‐loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (CUR@MSNs) via electrospinning, resulting in a novel drug‐loaded nanofibrous scaffold, CUR/CUR@MSNs‐NFs. The as‐prepared MSNs and composite NFs were characterized via TGA, FTIR, FE‐SEM, TEM, and BET. In vitro release profile of CUR from CUR/CUR@MSNs‐NFs was examined, and the in vitro antitumor efficacy against MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells was also evaluated through MTT, scratch assay, DAPI staining, and real‐time PCR. The results disclosed that the smooth, bead‐free, and randomly oriented CUR/CUR@MSNs‐NFs displayed a combination of initial rapid discharge and sustained release for CUR, which led to higher cytotoxicity, lower migration as well as a more pronounced effect on apoptosis induction than CUR‐NFs and CUR@MSNs‐NFs. The present study illustrated that the dual drug release mechanisms through MSN/NF‐mediated drug delivery systems might have a highly hopeful application as a localized implantable scaffold for potential postoperative breast cancer therapy.

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