Natural products, as a gift of nature to humanity, have long been used as drugs or pharmacological actives to help people cure various diseases. Yet we still know comparatively little about their ability to be materials. In recent years, some small molecule natural products isolated from traditional Chinese medicines have been found to have new features, namely, self-assembly to form gels (i.e., natural product gels, NPG). However, the application development of these natural products is seriously lacking, which greatly weakens their practical value and delays the maturity of the field. Here, a series of self-assembled triterpenoid natural products are used as materials (gel scaffolds) to construct drug delivery systems. Surprisingly, these NPG not only exhibit the excellent self-healing, controlled gelation, good safety and sustained release, but also achieve synergistic treatment of tumors through bioactive natural products. Compared with non-bioactive gel scaffolds, NPG scaffolds show great advantages in tumor therapy, including optimal tumor inhibition, preferable health, better body recovery, stronger immune function, less toxic side effects and longer survival. The successful construction of NPG scaffolds not only takes full advantage of the self-assembled natural products, but also takes an important step in the development of new applications for natural products.

天然产物作为大自然赐予人类的礼物，长期以来被用作药物或药理活性物质来帮助人们治疗各种疾病。然而我们对它们成为材料的能力仍然知之甚少。近年来，一些从中药中分离出来的小分子天然产物被发现具有新的特性，即自组装形成凝胶(即天然产物凝胶，NPG)。然而，这些天然产物的应用开发严重缺乏，极大削弱了其实用价值，延缓了该领域的成熟。在这里，一系列自组装的三萜类天然产物被用作材料（凝胶支架）来构建药物递送系统。令人惊讶的是，这些NPG不仅表现出优异的自愈性、可控凝胶性、良好的安全性和缓释性，而且还通过生物活性天然产物实现了对肿瘤的协同治疗。与非生物活性凝胶支架相比，NPG支架在肿瘤治疗中显示出巨大的优势，包括最佳的肿瘤抑制、更好的健康状况、更好的身体恢复、更强的免疫功能、更少的毒副作用和更长的生存期。 NPG支架的成功构建不仅充分利用了天然产物的自组装优势，而且为天然产物新应用的开发迈出了重要的一步。