摘要或動機

Background:\r
Delivery of anticancer drugs in vivo can be achieved by using targetspecific\r
drug carriers of various types – e.g. microspheres and liposomes –\r
which can be applied intravenously, or subcutaneously via a hypodermal\r
patch, etc. as appropriate to the type of drug carrier employed. Recently,\r
interest has surged in the usage of amphiphilic polymeric micelles for this\r
purpose, as they prove superior to other drug carriers in many ways. They\r
have highly-hydrated hydrophilic shells, and hydrophobic cores wherein\r
hydrophobic anticancer drugs such as adriamycin can be encapsulated\r
during transport in the blood. Their main advantages include their\r
smallness of size – enabling them to elude capture by the\r
reticuloendothelial system (RES) – their stability in the bloodstream as\r
shown in their low critical micelle concentration (CMC) values, their\r
passive targeting of tumour sites via the enhanced permeability and\r
retention (EPR) effect, and their ability to integrate an active targeting\r
mechanism, e.g. antibody-antigen recognition, pH-sensitivity, etc.