Engineered polymer nanoplatforms for targeted tumor cells and controlled release cargos to enhance cancer treatment.

Cancer is composed of a serious of uncontrollably c ells, which finally form tumors to negatively impact the functions of the body and induce other serious diseases, even lead people to death. During the last decades, scientists devote great effort to study cancer, however there are no effective diagnosis and treatments. Nanomaterials have attracted great attention in biomedical field in recent years, which have been widely used as optical imaging probes and delivery systems for cancer therapy. Among the numerous nanomaterials, polymeric nanoparticles occupy a prominent position because of their tunable micro-size, multifunctional surface, prominent biocompatibility and high drug-carrying capacity. These significant advantages endow them over the traditional nanomaterials and become a potential therapy for cancer. In this review, we focus on the applications of polymeric nanoparticles in cancer theranostics, especially as the drug delivery systems for cancer treatment. This review provides an overview of the advancement of synthesis, application of polymeric nanoparticles-based drug delivery systems and highlights the evaluation for cancer therapy.