Application of Polymeric Micelles for Cancer Treatment: A Review

Abstract

Polymeric micelles have been considered a promising development in chemotherapies to treat cancer diseases in recent decades. Bearing a structure of hydrophilic outer shell and hydrophobic core, these micelles possess many advantages like their nano-size structure, self-assembly synthesis, physical and chemical stability, biocompatibility, prolonged blood circulation time, and high drug loading and release capacity. The increased availability of building block copolymers that produce polymeric micelles also enables researchers to create the ideal drug delivery system. The formation of these polymeric micelles depends on various non-covalent interactions, the used concentration and temperature, block lengths, and methods of preparation. Among these polymeric micelles, stimuli-sensitive micelles have been developed and begun to attract more attention in recent years for their high on-site specificity and enhanced drug release efficacy. To accommodate the complex microenvironment in tumors, such as the internal changes in pH, reductive responses, and enzyme activities, or the external factors like visible lights, UV irradiations, and temperature, the stimuli-sensitive micelles exhibit strong stability, high drug loading, efficient drug delivery, specific site release, and mild side effects in recent studies. This research also discusses dual or multi-stimuli-sensitive polymeric micelles that are under high research nowadays, dictating a more novel and efficient way of cancer treatments and clinical practices.