Nanomicelles: using nanoparticles for cancer treatment

Context: GS Paper III S&T Nanotechnology (PT-Mains-Essay)

With the advance in nanotechnology, researchers across the globe have been exploring how to use nanoparticles for efficient drug delivery.
Similar to nanoshells and nanovesicles, nanomicelles are extremely small structures and have been noted as an emerging platform in targeted therapy.
Nanomicelles are globelike structures with a hydrophilic outer shell and a hydrophobic interior.
This dual property makes them a perfect carrier for delivering drug molecules.
Now a multidisciplinary, multiinstitutional team has 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.
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.
These leaky blood vessels are absent in healthy organs. “Chemical conjugation would render the phospholipiddocetaxel prodrug to be silent in the circulation and healthy organs.
But once it enters the cancer cells, the enzymes will cleave the bond to activate the drug and kill the cancer cells

Source: TH

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