Bone cancer resection often results in critical-sized skeletal defects that require simultaneous tumor eradication and bone regeneration. Conventional systemic therapies are limited by off-target toxicity, inadequate local tumor control, and insufficient regenerative efficacy. Nanostructured biomaterial scaffolds offer an alternative strategy by enabling localized therapy combined with structural support for tissue repair. Among available biomaterials, chitosan, a naturally derived cationic polysaccharide, has emerged as a versatile platform for scaffold design owing to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, chemical tunability, and intrinsic bioactivity. Chitosan can be engineered into three-dimensional scaffolds incorporating nanoscale features, including nanofibrous architectures, nanoporous networks, and embedded nanoparticles (<500 nm), which regulate cell–material interactions and enable controlled therapeutic delivery. This review summarizes recent advances in the design and fabrication of chitosan-based nanocomposite scaffolds for dual-action bone cancer therapy and postresection bone regeneration. Strategies such as polymer blending, cross-linking, and incorporation of inorganic nanomaterials enhance mechanical performance and osteoconductivity, whereas integration of chemotherapeutic agents, photothermal or magnetic nanoparticles, and immunomodulatory components enables localized chemotherapy, hyperthermia, radiosensitization, and immune modulation. Emerging approaches, including three-dimensional bioprinting, stimuli-responsive systems, and artificial intelligence-assisted scaffold design, are also discussed in context of patient-specific applications. Collectively, chitosan-based nanostructured scaffolds represent a promising material platform for integrating localized oncologic therapy with bone tissue regeneration in skeletal oncology.
Badshah et al. (Tue,) studied this question.