[DEC] Nanomicelles: using nanoparticles for cancer treatment

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

What is Nanomicelles?

Answer 2

Nanomicelles are ultramicrosopic globular structures that consist of exterior hydrophilic polar heads and an interior hydrophobic fatty acyl chain.

The nanomicelles are less than 100nm in size and are stable at room temperature.
This dual property makes them a perfect carrier for delivering drug molecules.

Because of this, nanomicelles are able to take on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic agents.

Nanomicelles are formed when amphiphilic molecules assemble themselves to create a globular structure that is only around 5 to 100nm in diameter.

The particles may be formed in aqueous or non-aqueous solutions where the nonpolar region forms the interior and the polar region forms the exterior.

Question 3

Uses of nanomicelles?

Answer 3

Micelles are used primarily as solutions for membrane proteins.
Nanomicelles could be used as therapeutic interventions involving protein and peptide delivery.

Drug delivery:
The current form of drug delivery through intravitreal injections are not patient-compliant and therefore poses a challenge on patient care and treatment.

Cancer therapy: 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.

Avoiding side effects: 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.

So, there was an urgent and unmet need to develop effective drug delivery vehicles for docetaxel without these side effects.

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 the healthy organs.
But once it enters the cancer cells, the enzymes will cleave the bond to activate the drug, and kill the cancer cells.