Synthetic living materials in cancer biology

Living materials, which are made either of or by living cells, or are synthetic materials with programmable elements catered to cells, are environmentally responsive and can self-repair, allowing controlled and predictable interactions with biological systems. Such features can be achieved in purely synthetic materials using chemical approaches to create dynamic and responsive materials that can undergo programmed changes, be remodelled by cells in a predictive way, sense their microenvironment and report back, or respond to remote triggers to rearrange in physical or chemical ways. In this Perspective, we discuss synthetic approaches to design such cell-responsive and environment-responsive living materials, with a particular focus on their applications in cancer. We highlight how synthetic and systems biology approaches can be implemented in the design of synthetic living materials, and we outline key cancer-related applications, including modelling of tumour heterogeneity, the tumour microenvironment and tumour evolution in response to therapy. Finally, we emphasize the importance of inclusive designs that should be based on an understanding of how health and disease manifest in and affect humans from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, skin colours, sexes and genders.