Context

With the advance in nanotechnology, researchers across the globe have been exploring how to use nanoparticles for efficient drug delivery. Now researchers have created a nanomicelle that can be used to deliver a drug named docetaxel, which is commonly used to treat various cancers including breast, colon and lung cancer.

About

• Similar to nanoshells and nanovesicles, nanomicellesare extremely small structures and have been noted as an emerging platform in targeted therapy.
• Nanomicelles are globe-like structures with a hydrophilic outer shell and a hydrophobic interior.
  • The hydrophobic core interacts with hydrophobic drugs/agents, whereas the hydrophilic tail helps surrounding with water and enhances solubility. 
• This dual property makes them a perfect carrier for delivering drug molecules.
• The nanomicelles are less than 100nm in size and are stable at room temperature.
• Once injected intravenously these nanomicelles can easily escape the circulation and enter the solid tumours where the blood vessels are found to be leaky.
  

Advantages

• Nanomicelles offer many advantages, including
  • small size (10–50 nm)
  • structural stability
  • less toxicity
  • ability to entrap large amounts of hydrophobic drugs/contrast agent and solubilize in water
  • conjugation with target ligand and stimuli-sensitive regions

The need

• The ideal goal for cancer therapy is destroying the cancer cells without harming healthy cells of the body, and chemotherapeutics approved for treatment of cancer are highly toxic.
• The currently used docetaxel is a highly hydrophobic drug, and is dissolved in a chemical mixture (polysorbate-80 and alcohol).
• This aggravates its toxic effects on liver, blood cells, and lungs.
• It necessiated urgent and unmet need to develop effective drug delivery vehicles for docetaxel without these side effects.