Polymeric micelles in TKIs’ delivery for cancer treatment

Abstract

Polymeric micelles (PMs), one of the most popular nanotechnology platforms for the delivery of various kinds of chemotherapeutics, are aggregated colloids formed through the self-assembling of amphiphilic block copolymers in an aqueous solvent. The popularity of PMs is owing to several unique physicochemical characteristics such as small size, biocompatibility, core-shell arrangement, high drug loading capacity, and favorable solubility. There is a plethora of studies on the use of these nano-delivery systems over years to overcome the issues related to drug administration, like low water solubility.Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are targeted therapy agents that constitute a significant part of cancer treatment modality due to targeting key biological molecules (EGFRs, PDGFR, and HER2) largely involved in the progression of cancer. However, issues associated with TKIs such as water-insolubility, short circulation time, systemic toxicity, and drug resistance pose challenges in the way of cancer therapy. In the present review, in addition to providing an introduction to micelles and different types of block copolymers, we attempt to present the latest information on clinical and preclinical research on employing PMs to deliver different TKIs to various types of tumors.