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World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2022; 28(25): 2867-2880
Published online Jul 7, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i25.2867
Micelles as potential drug delivery systems for colorectal cancer treatment
Zaynab Fatfat, Maamoun Fatfat, Hala Gali-Muhtasib
Zaynab Fatfat, Maamoun Fatfat, Hala Gali-Muhtasib, Department of Biology, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon
Hala Gali-Muhtasib, Center for Drug Discovery, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon
Author contributions: Fatfat Z and Fatfat M reviewed the literature and drafted the manuscript; Gali-Muhtasib H initiated the idea and revised the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hala Gali-Muhtasib, PhD, Professor, Department of Biology, and Center for Drug Discovery, American University of Beirut, Bliss street, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon. amro@aub.edu.lb
Received: January 15, 2022
Peer-review started: January 15, 2022
First decision: March 8, 2022
Revised: March 22, 2022
Accepted: May 27, 2022
Article in press: May 27, 2022
Published online: July 7, 2022
Processing time: 170 Days and 1.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Polymeric micelle-based drug delivery has demonstrated promising therapeutic outcomes against colorectal cancer. These safe nanocarriers exhibit high encapsulation efficiency of chemotherapeutic drugs, improve their water solubility and enhance the stability of nucleic acid-based therapeutics. They also accumulate preferentially at colorectal cancer sites, increase the anticancer effect of the delivered therapeutics and reduce their side effects. Incorporating stimuli-responsive and tumor targeting moieties to their structure further enhances their targeting and therapeutic efficacy. This platform also provides an opportunity to simultaneously deliver different chemotherapeutic drugs or nucleic acid-based therapeutics with chemotherapeutic drugs to the colorectal tumor to achieve an enhanced anticancer response.