Abstract
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Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a fatal disease that has a 5-year survival rate of less than 9%. It is expected to rank second in cancer-related deaths across the United States by 2030. Out of all the patients only about one-fifth patients are potentially treatable, and treatment options are often palliative. PC's poor prognosis is credited to its difficult early detection and also the tumour microenvironment that restrict therapeutic agents’ mobility. Numerous experimental and clinical research studies have demonstrated excellent therapeutic outcomes when a combination or simultaneous administration of chemotherapeutics is achieved. But even so, these 'combination' therapies frequently result in significant systemic toxicity. Nanoparticle-mediated delivery, particularly micelles, has the loading potential for multiple combinations of chemotherapeutics, thereby improving stability and accessibility, tumour-targeted delivery, and reducing chemotherapy-related adverse effects. As a result, a combinatorial approach can modify survival rates in patients promoting quality of life, and potentially providing a solution to hurdles in therapy. This review outlines the key challenges in treating PC, as well as recent advances in micelle-mediated combination treatments that combine chemotherapeutics and other gene-targeting agents such as siRNA and miRNA.