Cancer is a serious disease with an abnormal proliferation of organ tissues; it is characterized by malignant infiltration and growth that affects human life. Traditional cancer therapies such as resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy have a low cure rate and often cause irreversible damage to the body. In recent years, since the traditional treatment of cancer is still very far from perfect, researchers have begun to focus on non-invasive near-infrared (NIR)-responsive natural macromolecular hydrogel assembly drugs (NIR-NMHADs). Due to their unique biocompatibility and extremely high drug encapsulation, coupling with the spatiotemporal controllability of NIR, synergistic photothermal therapy (PTT), photothermal therapy (PDT), chemotherapy (CT) and immunotherapy (IT) has created excellent effects and good prospects for cancer treatment. In addition, some emerging bioengineering technologies can also improve the effectiveness of drug delivery systems. This review will discuss the properties of NIR light, the NIR-functional hydrogels commonly used in current research, the cancer therapy corresponding to the materials encapsulated in them and the bioengineering technology that can assist drug delivery systems. The review provides a constructive reference for the optimization of NIR-NMHAD experimental ideas and its application to human body.

Hyperlipidemia is a risk factor for the development of fatty liver and cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease, and hence, cholesterol-lowering drugs are considered important and effective in preventing cardiovascular diseases. Thus, researchers in the field of new drug development are endeavoring to identify new types of cholesterol-lowering drugs. 3β-hydroxysterol-Δ(24)-reductase (DHCR24) catalyzes the conversion of desmosterol to cholesterol, which is the last step in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway. We speculated that blocking the catalytic activity of DHCR24 could be a novel therapeutic strategy for treating hyperlipidemia. In the present study, by virtually screening the DrugBank database and performing molecular dynamics simulation analysis, we selected four potential DHCR24 inhibitor candidates: irbesartan, risperidone, tolvaptan, and conivaptan. All four candidates showed significant cholesterol-lowering activity in HepG2 cells. The experimental mouse model of hyperlipidemia demonstrated that all four candidates improved high blood lipid levels and fat vacuolation in the livers of mice fed with a high-fat diet. In addition, Western blot analysis results suggested that irbesartan reduced cholesterol levels by downregulating the expression of the low-density lipoprotein receptor. Finally, the immune complex activity assay confirmed the inhibitory effect of irbesartan on the enzymatic activity of DHCR24 with its half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 602 nM. Thus, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report that blocking the enzymatic activity of DHCR24 via competitive inhibition is a potential strategy for developing new cholesterol-lowering drugs against hyperlipidemia or multiple cancers. Furthermore, considering that irbesartan is currently used to treat hypertension combined with type 2 diabetes, we believe that irbesartan should be a suitable choice for patients with both hypertension and hyperlipidemia.