Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Based Nanocarriers for Drug and Gene Delivery - Intracellular Delivery: Fundamentals and Applications - page 257

Fig. 2 Proposed fate of polymeric micelles after intravenous administration (Reproduced from
Nishiyama and Kataoka 2006 with permission)

tumor facilitates the extravasation of nanocarriers. The permeated nanocarrier usually
gets trapped in tumor because the lymphatic system that drains fluids out of other
organs is dysfunctional in tumors. This phenomenon, known as the EPR effect, is
believed to be the reason for the passive accumulation of polymeric micelles and
stealth liposomes in solid tumors (Matsumura et al. 2004 ).

2.1 First Generation Polymeric Micelles for Drug Delivery

Polymeric micellar systems developed so far can be categorized to three classes:
micelle-forming polymer-drug conjugates, micellar nano-containers, and polyion