Multifunctional polymeric micellar nanomedicine in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer

Highlights: • Polymeric micelles (PM) are a prevalent topic of research for the past decade. • PM offers outstanding drug delivery and diagnostic advantages • Review crosstalk the recent reports that utilize PM architectures • Crosstalk the status of PM in targeting drugs, genes, and diagnostic agents in cancer. • Debates the opportunities and challenges towards bench-to-bedside translation of PM. Polymeric micelles are a prevalent topic of research for the past decade, especially concerning their fitting ability to deliver drug and diagnostic agents. This delivery system offers outstanding advantages, such as biocompatibility, high loading efficiency, water-solubility, and good stability in biological fluids, to name a few. The multifunctional polymeric micellar architect offers the added capability to adapt its surface to meet the looked-for clinical needs. This review cross-talks the recent reports, proof-of-concept studies, patents, and clinical trials that utilize polymeric micellar family architectures concerning cancer targeted delivery of anticancer drugs, gene therapeutics, and diagnostic agents. The manuscript also expounds on the underlying opportunities, allied challenges, and ways to resolve their bench-to-bedside translation for allied clinical applications.