Application of poly(ε-caprolactone-b-ethylene oxide) micelles combined with ionizing radiation in cancer treatment

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is on the utilization of biodegradable drug nanocarriers combined with ionizing radiation in cancer treatment. Polymeric micelles based on PCL-PEO block copolymers were selected as the main platform for delivering various therapeutic substances due to their size, degradability and easy preparation. This thesis can roughly be divided into two main parts. In the first part we combined the external radiation beams with PCL-PEO micelles which are applied as a nanoplatform for chemotherapeutic drugs and photosensitizer
and investigated the possibility that using the radiation power as a trigger for drug release from the micelles. In the second part, we focus more on the cooperation of radionuclides and PCL-PEO micelles. So far we developed a chelator-free method to radiolabel micelles for determining their in vivo behavior, as well as evaluated the possibility to combine chemotherapy with radionuclide therapy using the micelles as a nanoplatform. In both parts we attempted to unravel mechanisms behind the observed phenomena to be able to adjust the
nano-carriers accordingly.