Nanotheranostic Pluronic-Like Polymeric Micelles: Shedding Light into the Dark Shadows of Tumors

Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the advances in prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment, many tumors relapse and become resistant to conventional treatments. Theranostics and real-time molecular imaging using nanoscale materials, such as polymeric micelles, are being widely explored as promising gold standard approaches in a personalized medicine perspective for cancer. Theranostics is intended for the three-in-one purpose of simultaneously diagnose, treat, and monitor tumor evolution. Compared to the conventional treatments, theranostic functional polymeric micelles have demonstrated great potential to improve and monitor the delivery of pharmacological agents following administration, which can enhance therapeutic efficacy and minimize off-target toxicity. This review provides an overview of the current state of the art related to the use of polymeric micelles as theranostic multicarriers targeting the cancer cells and tumor microenvironment. Some future directions toward the design of nanotheranostic platforms are also proposed. In particular, we focused our attention on Pluronics and Tetronics as they advantageously present sol–gel transition, which makes them smart nanosystems suitable for oral theranostic administration and sustained depots, increasing patient compliance.

Development and Evaluation of 2-Amino-7-Fluorophenazine 5,10-Dioxide Polymeric Micelles as Antitumoral Agents for 4T1 Breast Cancer

“…The polymeric micelles (PMs) are biocompatible material that were first proposed as nanovehicles for drug delivery by Ringsdorf in 1984 has since been widely developed according their performance [ 24 , 25 ]. Amphiphilic PMs are spherical with core/shell architecture formed by the spontaneous self-assembly in water above a critical micellar concentration (CMC) [ 26 , 27 ]. The core consists of a hydrophobic segment and the hydrophilic segment conforms the shell or corona allowing incorporating complete or partially hydrophobic molecules with biological activity [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Nanomaterials Based on Functional Polymers for Sensitizing Cancer Radiotherapy

“…Polymeric micelles, based on self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers at critical micelle concentrations (CMC), are effective nanocarriers for poorly water-soluble anticancer drugs. [36][37][38] www.advancedsciencenews.com www.mrc-journal.de • Partial disassembly at concentrations below CMC [28,29] Dendrimers…”

“…Polymeric micelles, based on self‐assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers at critical micelle concentrations (CMC), are effective nanocarriers for poorly water‐soluble anticancer drugs. [ 36–38 ] Thus, hydrophobic radiosensitizers (e.g., high‐Z metal nanoparticles and many chemotherapeutic agents) can be loaded within the core to improve their aqueous solubility and bioavailability. Compared with micelles made of amphiphilic surfactants, polymeric micelles have a much lower concentration, making them more adaptive in living bodies.…”

Functionalized Polymeric Nanoparticles: A Novel Targeted Approach for Oncology Care

“…Theranostic functional pluronic polymer micelles have shown tremendous promise in contrast to traditional therapies to enhance and track medication delivery after administration, which can improve drug effectiveness and mitigate off-target toxicity. Latest studies have indicated that the tumor microenvironment (TME), including malignancy, invasion, and metastasis, is a central orchestrator of cancer progression [180,181]. A significant biological factor in which cohesive and polarized epithelial cells turn over nonpolarized and highly mobile, mesenchymal-like cells remains an important element of epithelialmesenchymal transfer [182].…”