Rewiring Biological Barriers in Pancreatic Diseases with Metal-Organic Frameworks.
- 1College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan 250200, China.
- 2Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Cluster Science, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, Analysis and Testing Center, Frontiers Science Center for High Energy Material, Advanced Technology Research Institute (Jinan), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Abstract
Pancreatic diseases, particularly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), remain among the most challenging disorders to diagnose and treat owing to a series of interconnected biological barriers, including dense stromal desmoplasia, profound immunosuppression, hypoxia, therapeutic resistance, and the lack of effective early-detection strategies. Overcoming these barriers requires multifunctional platforms capable of integrating diagnosis, microenvironment regulation, and precision therapy within a single system. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of highly tunable porous crystalline materials, have emerged as uniquely suited candidates for this purpose because of their programmable composition, structural versatility, catalytic activity, and capacity for multifunctional integration. Notably, MOFs have evolved from passive drug carriers into active regulators of disease-associated biological processes, enabling enhanced drug delivery, extracellular matrix remodeling, ferroptosis- and cuproptosis-based precision therapy, energy-triggered reactive oxygen species generation, immune microenvironment reprogramming, and imaging-guided theranostics. Beyond pancreatic cancer, emerging evidence further supports their potential applications in pancreatitis management and interventional therapeutic enhancement. In this review, we systematically summarize recent advances in the rational engineering of MOFs for pancreatic diseases, focusing on how material design strategies are leveraged to overcome key pathological barriers and improve therapeutic outcomes. We further discuss current challenges associated with biosafety, biodegradation, large-scale manufacturing, and clinical translation, while highlighting future opportunities for the development of next-generation MOF-based precision nanomedicines. By integrating advances across materials science, nanomedicine, and pancreatic disease biology, this review provides a comprehensive framework for the design and translational development of MOF-enabled diagnostic and therapeutic platforms.
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BibTeX
@article{li2026rewiring,
title = {{Rewiring Biological Barriers in Pancreatic Diseases with Metal-Organic Frameworks.}},
author = {Hao Li and Jiewen Hou and Congzhen He and Changxing Liu and Bowen Ran and Xinzhe Song and Lanxiao Lin and Lan Bao and Yi Zhao and Jing Mu and Liwei Chen and Hui-Zi Huang},
journal = {Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/biology15191783},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883457},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Rewiring Biological Barriers in Pancreatic Diseases with Metal-Organic Frameworks.
AU - Hao Li
AU - Jiewen Hou
AU - Congzhen He
AU - Changxing Liu
AU - Bowen Ran
AU - Xinzhe Song
AU - Lanxiao Lin
AU - Lan Bao
AU - Yi Zhao
AU - Jing Mu
AU - Liwei Chen
AU - Hui-Zi Huang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Biology
DO - 10.3390/biology15191783
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883457
AB - Pancreatic diseases, particularly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), remain among the most challenging disorders to diagnose and treat owing to a series of interconnected biological barriers, including dense stromal desmoplasia, profound immunosuppression, hypoxia, therapeutic resistance, and the lack of effective early-detection strategies. Overcoming these barriers requires multifunctional platforms capable of integrating diagnosis, microenvironment regulation, and precision therapy within a single system. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of highly tunable porous crystalline materials, have emerged as uniquely suited candidates for this purpose because of their programmable composition, structural versatility, catalytic activity, and capacity for multifunctional integration. Notably, MOFs have evolved from passive drug carriers into active regulators of disease-associated biological processes, enabling enhanced drug delivery, extracellular matrix remodeling, ferroptosis- and cuproptosis-based precision therapy, energy-triggered reactive oxygen species generation, immune microenvironment reprogramming, and imaging-guided theranostics. Beyond pancreatic cancer, emerging evidence further supports their potential applications in pancreatitis management and interventional therapeutic enhancement. In this review, we systematically summarize recent advances in the rational engineering of MOFs for pancreatic diseases, focusing on how material design strategies are leveraged to overcome key pathological barriers and improve therapeutic outcomes. We further discuss current challenges associated with biosafety, biodegradation, large-scale manufacturing, and clinical translation, while highlighting future opportunities for the development of next-generation MOF-based precision nanomedicines. By integrating advances across materials science, nanomedicine, and pancreatic disease biology, this review provides a comprehensive framework for the design and translational development of MOF-enabled diagnostic and therapeutic platforms.
SN - 2079-7737
ER -