title: Multifunctional nanoassemblies of block copolymers for future cancer therapy.
abstract: Nanoassemblies from amphiphilic block copolymers are promising nanomedicine platforms for cancer diagnosis and therapy due to their relatively small size, high loading capacity of drugs, controlled drug release,in vivostability and prolonged blood circulation. Recent clinical trials with self-assembled polymeric micelles incorporating anticancer drugs have shown improved antitumor activity and decreased side effects encouraging the further development of nanoassemblies for drug delivery. This review summarizes recent approaches considering stimuli-responsive, multifunctionality and more advanced architectures, such as vesicles or worm-like micelles, for tumor-specific drug and gene delivery.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Biotechnology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Center for NanoBio Integration, The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Horacio
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Biotechnology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Center for NanoBio Integration, The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan; Department of Materials Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan; Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kataoka
keywords: block copolymers; cancer; drug delivery; gene delivery; self-assembly