Drug-Immobilizing Micellar Nanoreactor: An Intriguing Drug Stable Delivery Strategy

Conflicting requirements of stable drug delivery and controllable rapid release are simultaneously required of tumor therapeutic platforms. However, reconciling the contradictory requirements remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we reveal an innovative, stable drug delivery strategy and the corresponding therapeutic modality without the requirement of drug release. With cooperating nonbonded interactions (pi-pi stacking, hydrogen bonding), a reversible cross-linking strategy, and a crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) process, the drug-immobilizing micellar nanoreactors are established with intriguing individual crystalline core-corona micellar structures, which can achieve long-term stability, small molecular exchange performance, and potential therapeutic benefit while bypassing the drug release. We believe that these will provide a new prospect for applications of stable polymeric micelles that circumvent the reconciling concern of release.