How can metal-organic frameworks be rationally designed to modulate the tumor microenvironment and thereby inhibit multiple hallmarks of cancer?
Zhansultan Bakyt
31/08/2026
This Review examines three interconnected themes: the Hallmarks of Cancer, Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), and MOF-based immunotherapy strategies. The Hallmarks of Cancer offer a conceptual framework for understanding tumor development, while MOFs have emerged as versatile platforms for biomedical applications. We outline the core principles of each area, highlighting the structural and functional properties of MOFs that enable targeted therapeutic use, and examine how MOF-integrated immunotherapy can modulate key cancer hallmarks. Finally, we unify these concepts into a single framework illustrating their interplay and relevance for next-generation cancer therapies.
This review article was drafted and formatted in Microsoft Word. The topic was chosen for both personal and scientific reasons: a family member's experience with prostate cancer, combined with the author's background as a chemistry Olympiad student and interest in the work of MOF researchers Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi. The manuscript follows a seven-section structure: Abstract, Introduction, Hallmarks, MOFs, Application, Conclusion, References. Literature was gathered from the following sources: Google Scholar, PubMed, general web search, and papers recommended by the professor with whom this article was written. Publication date ranges varied from 1998 to 2026, with most cancer-related papers spanning between 2007 and 2010, while MOF-related papers were more recent. General searching strategies normally started with reading the papers sent by the professor, and reading the other ones that were cited in the initial articles. The inclusion criteria prioritized peer-reviewed and more cited papers, with sufficient methodological detail. When it came to similar works about a specific topic, we usually followed our inclusion criteria, however, in some cases, two papers complemented each other, and both were chosen, e.g. Douglas Hanahan's 2011 and 2026 articles. Sources were reviewed qualitatively, with relevant findings synthesized into a coherent narrative and cited using a numbered system, with full details in the References section. Lastly, the section of hallmarks of cancer that was used in this paper, though based on several works of Douglas Hanahan, was mainly inspired by his 2026 work. The review focused on the nine core cancer hallmarks because they represent discrete, therapeutically targetable capabilities of tumor cells, whereas the additional dimensions introduced by Hanahan (2026), although biologically important, are broader contextual concepts beyond the therapeutic scope of this review.