Supramolecular Polymer Carrier Materials for Drug Release

Cancer, one of the most serious diseases that pose a threat to human health, has the highest mortality rates. Currently, chemotherapy is the most common and effective approach for cancer treatment. However, conventional anti-cancer drugs like doxorubicin and paclitaxel can cause severe side effects on healthy tissues due to their non-specific therapy mode. Moreover, these therapeutic agents face several issues that limit their clinical applications, including poor water solubility, low bioavailability, and short blood circulation time. To address this dilemma, supramolecular polymer carrier materials have gained considerable attention as they can self-assemble into nanostructures such as micelles to encapsulate hydrophobic drugs and facilitate drug delivery through internalization. These drug-loaded polymeric carriers also enable targeted drug release to minimize cytotoxicity on normal cells while enhancing anti-cancer performance.