Nanotheranostic Pluronic-Like Polymeric Micelles: Shedding Light into the Dark Shadows of Tumors

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the advances in prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment, many tumors relapse and become resistant to conventional treatments. Theranostics and real-time molecular imaging using nanoscale materials, such as polymeric micelles, are being widely explored as promising gold standard approaches in a personalized medicine perspective for cancer. Theranostics is intended for the three-in-one purpose of simultaneously diagnose, treat, and monitor tumor evolution. Compared to the conventional treatments, theranostic functional polymeric micelles have demonstrated great potential to improve and monitor the delivery of pharmacological agents following administration, which can enhance therapeutic efficacy and minimize off-target toxicity. This review provides an overview of the current state of the art related to the use of polymeric micelles as theranostic multicarriers targeting the cancer cells and tumor microenvironment. Some future directions toward the design of nanotheranostic platforms are also proposed. In particular, we focused our attention on Pluronics and Tetronics as they advantageously present sol-gel transition, which makes them smart nanosystems suitable for oral theranostic administration and sustained depots, increasing patient compliance.