Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery Prepared from Amphiphilic PLGA Zwitterionic Block Copolymers with Sharp Contrast in Polarity between Two Blocks

Antifreeze and Rheological Properties of Injectable Triblock Copolymer Hydrogels with Supramolecular Junctions

ABC triblock copolymers composed of hydrophobic poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) midblock, and P(PEGMA-UPy_0.15 ) containing supramolecular ureidopyrimidinone moieties, poly(ε-caprolactone-block-carboxybetaine methacrylate-block-[poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate-co-(α-methacryloyl-ω-(6-(3-(6-methyl-4-oxo-1,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-yl)ureido)hexylcarbamoyloxy)poly(ethylene glycol))]), are investigated to achieve multifunctional antifreeze hydrogels. The PCL and P(PEGMA-UPy_0.15 ) blocks induce the formation of physical network with a hierarchical nanostructure comprising hydrophobic PCL cores and supramolecular junctions, respectively. The super-hydrophilic nature of polyzwitterion midblocks and the confinement effect of the supramolecular junctions enhance the antifreeze performance, where the majority of water molecules remains supercooled below sub-zero temperature. The hydrogel relaxation characterized over a wide range of timescale reveals that the facile dynamics of the supramolecular junctions lead to the self-healing and injectability of the hydrogels. In conjunction with the biodegradable PCL cores, the antifreeze and rheological characteristics of the triblock copolymer hydrogels provide significant potential to use for cryo-preservable and bio-injectable drug storage and delivery.

Amphoteric natural starch-coated polymer nanoparticles with excellent protein corona-free and targeting properties

The protein corona on nano drug carriers is an important well-known biological issue that often induces biological incompatibility and screens the targeting molecules on the surfaces of carriers, thus causing a loss of targeting specificity. Although polyethylene glycol (PEG) and zwitterionic polymers have been widely used as anti-fouling materials, there still remain critical challenges for their use as protein-corona agents for drug delivery and targeting. Here, we have designed novel amphoteric natural starch-stabilized core-shell colloidal nanoparticles with more efficient protein corona-free properties, under long term circulation, at different protein concentrations and in different protein charge environments, compared to typical anti-fouling materials such as PEG and zwitterionic polymers. More importantly, the starch-coated polymer nanoparticles can be further functionalized by antibodies to achieve additional excellent targeting and cell internalization capabilities for their use in photodynamic therapy. Our findings demonstrate a novel protein-free or anti-fouling natural material that is very promising for use as highly efficient nano drug carriers and marine coatings.

Fabrication of Polymer Micelles with Zwitterionic Shell and Biodegradable Core for Reductively Responsive Release of Doxorubicin

To achieve a high stability in physiological environment and rapid intracellular drug release, a biodegradable zwitterionic triblock copolymer with a disulfide-linked poly-ε-caprolactone and polycarboxybetaine methacrylate (PCBMA-SS-PCL-SS-PCBMA) was prepared for micellar carrier to delivery doxorubicin (DOX) into tumor cells. PCBMA-SS-PCL-SS-PCBMA was obtained by following steps: i) introducing disulfide bonds through end-group modification of PCL diol with cystamine dihydrochloride; ii) preparing PCL-RAFT macromolecular chain transfer agent by EDC/NHS chemistry; iii) RAFT polymerization of zwitterionic monomer. Self-assembling from PCBMA-SS-PCL-SS-PCBMA, polymeric micelles had many advantages, such as ultra-low protein absorption in serum and obvious reduction-responsiveness in the presence of DTT. Furthermore, DOX-loaded micelles exhibited high stability upon centrifugation and lyophilization, a fast intracellular drug release and enhanced drug efficacy due to GSH-triggered PCBMA shell shedding and micellar reassembling. Thus, the polymeric micelles integrated several functions and properties could be prospectively utilized as valuable nanocarriers in cancer chemotherapeutics.

Development of Zwitterionic Polypeptide Nanoformulation with High Doxorubicin Loading Content for Targeted Drug Delivery

Much attention has been drawn to targeted nanodrug delivery systems due to their high therapeutic efficacy in cancer treatment. In this work, doxorubicin (DOX) was incorporated into a zwitterionic arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid (RGD)-conjugated polypeptide by an emulsion solvent evaporation technique with high drug loading content (45%) and high drug loading efficiency (95%). This zwitterionic nanoformulation showed excellent colloidal stability at high dilution and in serum. The pH-induced disintegration and enzyme-induced degradation of the nanoformulation were confirmed by dynamic light scattering and gel permeation chromatography. Efficient internalization of DOX in the cells and high antitumor activity in vitro was observed. Compared with the free drug, this nanoformulation showed higher accumulation in tumor and lower systemic toxicity in vivo. The DOX-loaded zwitterionic RGD-conjugated polypeptide vesicles show potential application for targeted drug delivery in the clinic.

Amplified Split Aptamer Sensor Delivered Using Block Copolymer Nanoparticles for Small Molecule Imaging in Living Cells

We develop a novel amplified split aptamer sensor for highly sensitive detection and imaging of small molecules in living cells by using cationic block copolymer nanoparticles (BCNs) with entrapped fluorescent conjugated polymer as a delivery agent. The design of a split aptamer as the initiator of hybridization chain reaction (HCR) affords the possibility of enhancing the signal-to-background ratio and thus allows high-contrast imaging for small molecules with relatively weak interactions with their aptamers. The novel design of using fluorescent cationic BCNs as the nanocarrier enables efficient and self-tracking transfection of DNA probes. Results reveal that BCNs exhibit high fluorescence brightness allowing direct tracking of the delivery location. The developed amplified split aptamer sensor is shown to have high sensitivity and selectivity for in vitro quantitative detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) with a detection limit of 30 nM. Live cell studies show that the sensor provides a "signal on" approach for specific, high-contrast imaging of ATP. The DNA sensor based HCR system may provide a new generally applicable platform for detection and imaging of low-abundance biomarkers.

Fully synthetic macromolecular prodrug chemotherapeutics with EGFR targeting and controlled camptothecin release kinetics

Herein, we developed a fully polymerizable, peptide-targeted, camptothecin polymeric prodrug system. Two prodrug monomers were synthesized via esterification of campothecin (20Cam) and 10-hydroxycamptothecin (10Cam) with mono-2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl succinate (SMA) resulting in polymerizable forms of the aliphatic ester- and aromatic ester-linked drugs respectively. These monomers were then incorporated into zwitterionic polymers via RAFT copolymerization of the prodrug monomers with a tert-butyl ester protected carboxy betaine monomer. Subsequent deprotection of the tert-butyl residues with TFA yielded carboxy betaine methacrylate (CBM) scaffolds with controlled prodrug incorporation. Reverse phase HPLC was then employed to establish drug release kinetics in human serum at 37 oC for the resultant polymeric prodrugs. Copolymers containing 10Cam residues linked via aromatic esters showed faster hydrolysis rates with 59 % drug released at 7 days, while copolymers with Cam residues linked via aliphatic esters showed only 28 % drug release over the same time period. These differences in drug release kinetics were then shown to correlate with large differences in cytotoxic activity in SKOV3 ovarian cancer cell cultures. At 72 hours, the IC50s of aromatic- and aliphatic- ester linked prodrugs were 56 nM and 4776 nM, respectively. An EGFR-targeting peptide sequence, GE11, was then directly incorporated into the polymeric prodrugs via RAFT copolymerization of the polymeric prodrugs with a peptide macronomer. The GE11-targeted polymeric prodrugs showed enhanced targeting and cytotoxic activity in SKOV3 cell cultures relative to untargeted polymers containing the negative control sequence HW12. Following pulse-chase treatment (15 min, 37 °C), the 72 hour IC50 of GE11 targeted prodrug was determined to be 1597 nM, in contrast to 3399 nM for the non-targeted control.

Carrier-Free, Pure Nanodrug Formed by the Self-Assembly of an Anticancer Drug for Cancer Immune Therapy

Ursolic acid (UA) is a food-plant-derived natural product which has good anticancer activities and low toxicity. However, the poor water solubility of UA limits its application in clinic. To address this issue, we developed a carrier-free nanodrug by self-assembly of UA. Here, we showed that UA nanoparticles (NPs) have a near-spherical shape with a diameter of ∼150 nm. UA NPs exhibited higher antiproliferative activity; significantly caused apoptosis; decreased the expression of COX-2/VEGFR2/VEGFA; and increased the immunostimulatory activity of TNF-α, IL-6, and IFN-β and decreased the activity of STAT-3 in A549 cells in vitro. Furthermore, UA NPs could inhibit tumor growth and have the ability of liver protection in vivo. More importantly, UA NPs could significantly improve the activation of CD4+ T-cells, which indicated that UA NPs have the potential for immunotherapy. Overall, a carrier-free UA nanodrug may be a promising drug to further enhance their anticancer efficacy and immune function.

Zwitterionic Polyester-Based Nanoparticles with Tunable Size, Polymer Molecular Weight, and Degradation Time

Biodegradable polymer nanoparticles are an important class of materials used in several applications for their unique characteristics. In particular, the ones stabilized by zwitterionic materials are gaining increased interest in medicine as alternative to the more common ones based on poly(ethylene glycol) thanks to their superior stability and ability to avoid both the accelerated blood clearance and allergic reactions. In this work, a novel class of zwitterionic based NPs has been produced, and a method to independently control the nanoparticle size, degradation time, and polymer molecular weight has been developed and demonstrated. This has been possible by the synthesis and the fine-tuning of zwitterionic amphiphilic block copolymers obtained via the combination of ring-opening polymerization and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The final results showed that when two block copolymers contain the same number of caprolactone units, the one with longer oligoester lateral chains degrades faster. This phenomenon is in sharp contrast with the one seen so far for the common linear polyester systems where longer chains result in longer degradation times, and it can be used to better tailor the degradation behavior of the nanoparticles.

Biodegradable Electronic Systems in 3D, Heterogeneously Integrated Formats

Biodegradable electronic systems represent an emerging class of technology with unique application possibilities, from temporary biomedical implants to "green" consumer gadgets. This paper introduces materials and processing methods for 3D, heterogeneously integrated devices of this type, with various functional examples in sophisticated forms of silicon-based electronics. Specifically, techniques for performing multilayer assembly by transfer printing and for fabricating layer-to-layer vias and interconnects by lithographic procedures serve as routes to biodegradable, 3D integrated circuits composed of functional building blocks formed using specialized approaches or sourced from commercial semiconductor foundries. Demonstration examples range from logic gates and analog circuits that undergo functional transformation by transience to systems that integrate multilayer resistive sensors for in situ, continuous electrical monitoring of the processes of transience. The results significantly expand the scope of engineering options for biodegradable electronics and other types of transient microsystem technologies.

Mesoscopic Structures of Poly(carboxybetaine) Block Copolymer and Poly(ethylene glycol) Block Copolymer in Solutions

The antifouling property of exogenous materials is vital for their in vivo applications. In this work, dissipative particle dynamics simulations are performed to study the self-assembled morphologies of two copolymer systems containing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(carboxybetaine) (PCB) in aqueous solutions. Effects of polymer composition and polymer concentration on the self-assembled structures of the two copolymers (PLA-PEG and PLA-PCB) are investigated, respectively [PLA represents poly(lactic acid)]. Results show that whatever the copolymer composition is, PLA-PEG systems will self-assemble into core-shell structures, whereas onion-like and vesicle structures are also found for the PLA-PCB systems. Different morphologies are obtained at different polymer concentrations in both copolymer systems. Simulation results demonstrate that PCB is more stable than PEG in maintaining self-assembled spherical structures of copolymer systems because PLA-PEG forms dumbbell-like structures whereas PLA-PCB is spherical under the same polymer concentration. Although both copolymer systems can self-assemble into core-shell nanoparticles when the block ratio of PLA:PEG or PLA:PCB is 80:20, the core-shell structures of the nanoparticles are quite different. The shell layers formed by PEG in PLA-PEG nanoparticles are inhomogeneous in size because of the amphiphilicity of PEG, whereas the shell layers in PLA-PCB nanoparticles are homogenous because of the strong hydrophilicity of the zwitterionic PCB polymer block.

CO2-Responsive graft copolymers: synthesis and characterization

The synthesis and self-assembly study of CO₂-responsive graft copolymers fabricated from a “graft-to” strategy based on pentafluorophenyl esters as grafting sites.

Zwitterionic nanogels crosslinked by fluorescent carbon dots for targeted drug delivery and simultaneous bioimaging

A zwitterionic multifunctional nanogel drug delivery vehicle was synthesized by copolymerizing ornithine methacrylamide (OrnAA, a newly developed amino acid - derived zwitterionic non-fouling monomer) with fluorescent crosslinkable carbon dots (CCDs). In this construct, the zwitterionic nanogel network served as a functionalizable non-fouling matrix for drug loading, while the introduction of CCDs as crosslinkers enabled the real-time tracking and locating of the nanogel. The nanogels showed exceptional stability when incubated in protein solutions and stable fluorescence similar to that of CCDs. Labeled dextran was encapsulated in nanogels as a model drug, and was released in a controlled manner. Importantly, cellular uptake experiments showed that the folic acid - conjugated nanogels can be specifically internalized by the folate receptor - overexpressed cancer cells, but not in normal tissue cells. This type of multifunctional nanogels holds great potential for targeted delivery and simultaneous imaging in cancer therapy.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

In this work, we developed a zwitterionic multifunctional nanogel drug delivery system, by copolymerizing ornithine methacrylamide (OrnAA, a newly developed amino acid - derived zwitterionic non-fouling monomer) with fluorescent crosslinkable carbon dots (CCDs). The non-fouling pOrnAA network provides the nanogels with great stability in biophysical environments and serves as a matrix for drug loading, whereas the fluorescent CCDs not only serve as crosslinkers but also provide stable (i.e., non-photobleaching) fluorescence signals for real-time tracking of the nanogels in the delivery process. A model drug dextran loaded in the nanogels was shown to be released in a controlled manner. Furthermore, the abundant functional groups possessed by pOrnAA can be further conjugated with ligands for specific cell targeting. Our results show that folic acid-modified nanogels were only selectively internalized in folate receptor overexpressed cancer cells, but not in normal tissue cells. Such multifunctional zwitterionic nanogels hold great potential for targeted drug delivery and simultaneous imaging in cancer therapy, due to their great stability, bioimaging capability, excellent biocompatibility, controlled drug release, and selective cell targeting.

Drug carriers based on highly protein-resistant materials for prolonged in vivo circulation time

Long-circulating drug carriers are highly desirable in drug delivery system. However, nonspecific protein adsorption leaves a great challenge in drug delivery of intravenous administration and significantly affects both the pharmacokinetic profiles of the carrier and drugs, resulting in negatively affect of therapeutic efficiency. Therefore, it is important to make surface modification of drug carriers by protein-resistant materials to prolong the blood circulation time and increase the targeted accumulation of therapeutic agents. In this review, we highlight the possible mechanism of protein resistance and recent progress of the alternative protein-resistant materials and their drug carriers, such as poly(ethylene glycol), oligo(ethylene glycol), zwitterionic materials, and red blood cells adhesion.

Applying thermosettable zwitterionic copolymers as general fouling-resistant and thermal-tolerant biomaterial interfaces

We introduced a thermosettable zwitterionic copolymer to design a high temperature tolerance biomaterial as a general antifouling polymer interface. The original synthetic fouling-resistant copolymer, poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-co-poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (poly(VP-co-SBMA)), is both thermal-tolerant and fouling-resistant, and the antifouling stability of copolymer coated interfaces can be effectively controlled by regulating the VP/SBMA composition ratio. We studied poly(VP-co-SBMA) copolymer gels and networks with a focus on their general resistance to protein, cell, and bacterial bioadhesion, as influenced by the thermosetting process. Interestingly, we found that the shape of the poly(VP-co-SBMA) copolymer material can be set at a high annealing temperature of 200 °C while maintaining good antifouling properties. However, while the zwitterionic PSBMA polymer gels were bioinert as expected, control of the fouling resistance of the PSBMA polymer networks was lost in the high temperature annealing process. A poly(VP-co-SBMA) copolymer network composed of PSBMA segments at 32 mol % showed reduced fibrinogen adsorption, tissue cell adhesion, and bacterial attachment, but a relatively higher PSBMA content of 61 mol % was required to optimize resistance to platelet adhesion and erythrocyte attachment to confer hemocompatibility to human blood. We suggest that poly(VP-co-SBMA) copolymers capable of retaining stable fouling resistance after high temperature shaping have a potential application as thermosettable materials in a bioinert interface for medical devices, such as the thermosettable coating on a stainless steel blood-compatible metal stent investigated in this study.

Controlled drug release and hydrolysis mechanism of polymer-magnetic nanoparticle composite

Uniform and multifunctional poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-nanoparticle composite has enormous potential for applications in biomedical and materials science. A detailed understanding of the surface and interface chemistry of these composites is essential to design such materials with optimized function. Herein, we designed and investigated a simple PLA-magnetic nanoparticle composite system to elucidate the impact of nanoparticles on the degradation of polymer-nanoparticle composites. In order to have an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of hydrolysis in PLA-nanoparticle composites, degradation processes were monitored by several surface sensitive techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, contact angle goniometry, atomic force microscopy, and sum frequency generation spectroscopy. As a second-order nonlinear optical technique, SFG spectroscopy was introduced to directly probe in situ chemical nature at the PLA-magnetic nanoparticle composite/aqueous interface, which allowed for the delineation of molecular mechanisms of various hydrolysis processes for degradation at the molecular level. The best PLA-NP material, with a concentration of 20% MNP in the composite, was found to enhance the drug release rate greater than 200 times while maintaining excellent controlled drug release characteristics. It was also found that during hydrolysis, various crystalline-like PLA domains on the surfaces of PLA-nanoparticle composites influenced various hydrolysis behaviors of PLA. Results from this study provide new insight into the design of nanomaterials with controlled degradation and drug release properties, and the underlined molecular mechanisms. The methodology developed in this study to characterize the polymer-nanoparticle composites is general and widely applicable.

Microfluidic synthesis of rigid nanovesicles for hydrophilic reagents delivery

We present a hollow-structured rigid nanovesicle (RNV) fabricated by a multi-stage microfluidic chip in one step, to effectively entrap various hydrophilic reagents inside, without complicated synthesis, extensive use of emulsifiers and stabilizers, and laborious purification procedures. The RNV contains a hollow water core, a rigid poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) shell, and an outermost lipid layer. The formation mechanism of the RNV is investigated by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The entrapment efficiency of hydrophilic reagents such as calcein, rhodamine B and siRNA inside the hollow water core of RNV is ≈90 %. In comparison with the combination of free Dox and siRNA, RNV that co-encapsulate siRNA and doxorubicin (Dox) reveals a significantly enhanced anti-tumor effect for a multi-drug resistant tumor model.

Functional core/shell drug nanoparticles for highly effective synergistic cancer therapy

Gold (Au)-nanoshelled 10-hydroxycamptothecin nanoparticles (HCPT NPs) are developed with combination of photothermal therapy and chemotherapy for highly effective cancer therapy. The strong near-infrared (NIR) absorbance from Au nanoshells endows the nanocomposites photothermal effects and on-demand drug release. Notably, the drug-loading content reaches up to 63.7 wt%, which is much higher than that in the previously reported nanovehicles systems. Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that the combined local specific chemotherapy with external NIR photothermal therapy demonstrates a synergistic effect, which is significantly better than either of them alone. More importantly, due to the high drug-loading content and efficient photothermal effects of the nanocomposites, 100% in vivo tumor elimination is achieved at a low laser irradiation power density of 1 W cm(-) (2) without weight loss and tumor recurrence. No obvious systematic toxicity is observed for the injected mice, indicating the good biocompatibility of this kind of multifunctional drug nanocomposites. This work highlights the great potential of drug-nanostructure-based multifunctional core/shell nanpocomposite for highly efficient cancer therapy.

Imaging specificity of MR-optical imaging agents following the masking of surface charge by poly(ethylene glycol)

The coupling of specific antibodies to imaging agents often improves imaging specificity. However, free amine groups designed for the coupling can cause nonspecific binding of the imaging agents. We report here development of a nanocarrier, MnMEIO-silane-NH2-mPEG nanoparticles (NPs), consisting of a manganese-doped iron oxide nanoparticle core (MnMEIO), a copolymer shell of silane and amine-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol) (silane-EA-mPEG). The key feature in MnMEIO-silane-NH2-mPEG is the flexible PEG, which masks the non-conjugated reactive amine groups (-NH2 ↔ -NH3(+)) and reduces nonspecific binding of MnMEIO-silane-NH2-mPEG to cells. The amine groups on MnMEIO-silane-NH2-mPEG were conjugated with the fluorescent dye, Cy777 or antibodies [Erbitux (Erb)] to form a MR-optical imaging contrast agent (MnMEIO-silane-NH2-(Erb)-mPEG) for EGFR-expressing tumors. Confocal microscopic and flow cytometric analyses showed that MnMEIO-silane-NH2-(Erb)-mPEG displayed low nonspecific binding. Moreover, TEM images showed that MnMEIO-silane-NH2-(Erb)-mPEG were endocytosed by EGFR-expressing cells. In line with their EGFR expression levels, A431, PC-3, and Colo-205 tumors treated with MnMEIO-silane-NH2-(Erb)-mPEG NPs showed -97.1%, -49.7%, and -2.8% contrast enhancement, respectively, in in vitro T2-weighted MR imaging. In vivo T2-weighted MR imaging and optical images showed that MnMEIO-silane-NH2-(Erb)-mPEG could specifically and effectively target to EGFR-expressing tumors in nude mice; the relative contrast enhancements were 7.94 (at 2 h) and 7.59 (at 24 h) fold higher in A431 tumors as compared to the EGFR-negative Colo-205 tumors. On the contrary, MnMEIO-silane-NH2-(Erb) NPs showed only 1.44 (at 2 h) and 1.52 (at 24 h) fold higher in EGFR-positive tumors as compared to the EGFR-negative tumors. Finally, antibodies can be readily changed to allow imaging of other tumors bearing different antigens. These data indicate that masking surface charges on contrast agents is a useful strategy to improve imaging efficacy.

Carrier-free, functionalized pure drug nanorods as a novel cancer-targeted drug delivery platform

A one-dimensional drug delivery system (1D DDS) is highly attractive since it has distinct advantages such as enhanced drug efficiency and better pharmacokinetics. However, drugs in 1D DDSs are all encapsulated in inert carriers, and problems such as low drug loading content and possible undesirable side effects caused by the carriers remain a serious challenge. In this paper, a novel, carrier-free, pure drug nanorod-based, tumor-targeted 1D DDS has been developed. Drugs are first prepared as nanorods and then surface functionalized to achieve excellent water dispersity and stability. The resulting drug nanorods show enhanced internalization rates mainly through energy-dependent endocytosis, with the shape-mediated nanorod (NR) diffusion process as a secondary pathway. The multiple endocytotic mechanisms lead to significantly improved drug efficiency of functionalized NRs with nearly ten times higher cytotoxicity than those of free molecules and unfunctionalized NRs. A targeted drug delivery system can be readily achieved through surface functionalization with targeting group linked amphipathic surfactant, which exhibits significantly enhanced drug efficacy and discriminates between cell lines with high selectivity. These results clearly show that this tumor-targeting DDS demonstrates high potential toward specific cancer cell lines.

Docetaxel nanotechnology in anticancer therapy

Taxanes have been recognized as a family of very efficient anticancer drugs, but the formulation in use for the two main taxanes-Taxol for paclitaxel and Taxotere for docetaxel-have shown dramatic side effects. Whereas several new formulations for paclitaxel have recently appeared, such as Abraxane and others currently in various phases of clinical trials, there is no new formulation in clinical trials for the other main taxane, docetaxel, except BIND-014, a polymeric nanoparticle, which recently entered phase I clinical testing. Therefore, we review herein the state of the art and recent abundance in published results of academic approaches toward nanotechnology-based drug-delivery systems containing nanocarriers and targeting agents for docetaxel formulations. These efforts will certainly enrich the spectrum of docetaxel treatments in the near future. Taxotere's systemic toxicity, low water solubility, and other side effects are significant problems that must be overcome. To avoid the limitations of docetaxel in clinical use, researchers have developed efficient drug-delivery assemblies that consist of a nanocarrier, a targeting agent, and the drug. A wide variety of such engineered nanosystems have been shown to transport and eventually vectorize docetaxel more efficiently than Taxotere in vitro, in vivo, and in pre-clinical administration. Recent progress in drug vectorization has involved a combined therapy and diagnostic ("theranostic") approach in a single drug-delivery vector and could significantly improve the efficiency of such an anticancer drug as well as other drug types.