Traditional Chinese Medicine Polysaccharides-Based Nano-Drug Delivery Systems: Design Strategies and Combination Platforms in Tumor Therapy

Conventional tumor therapies and traditional nanocarrier delivery systems both suffer from multiple limitations. Traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharides (TCMPs), which possess excellent biocompatibility, low toxicity, structurally modifiable characteristics and inherent pharmacological activities, have emerged as promising functional materials for constructing antitumor drug delivery systems and are being gradually applied in tumor combination therapy. This review systematically summarizes the common structural characteristics, biological functions, and structure–activity relationships of representative TCMPs. It further discusses the principal modification strategies used to construct TCMPs-based drug delivery systems and highlights recent progress in their applications in immunotherapy-centered combination therapy. In addition, it outlines their mechanistic basis and therapeutic potential for improving drug delivery efficiency and antitumor efficacy. This review provides theoretical references for the optimal design of such novel systems and guidance for their applications in precision treatment of tumors, while also pointing out some challenges in the translational research of such systems.