Recently, the polymeric nanocarriers, including micelles, vesicles, capsules, nanogels, nanospheres, and nanofibers, have attracted more and more attention in the field of drug delivery. Specifically, the development of intelligent polymeric nanocarriers enables the personalized and on-demand treatments to be highly possible. The intelligence not only endows the polymeric nanocarriers with the capabilities of identifying diseased tissue or cells and triggering the positive response of cells, but also can serve as a switch to achieve the directional drug delivery in the lesion sites. The potential advances of intelligent polymeric nanocarriers bring an opportunity and also a challenge for researchers to exploit more desirable nanosystems for controlled drug release.

The purpose of this special issue is to publish high-quality research articles as well as reviews that seek to address recent development on the preparation, characterization, and application of intelligent polymeric nanocarriers, as well as the relevant prospect on opportunities and challenges.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Preparation and characterization of intelligent polymeric nanocarriers
• Novel technologies/methods/protocols for the preparation, purification, and scale-up of smart polymeric nanotherapeutics
• Development of targeting polymeric nanocarriers
• Advances of bioactive polymeric drug delivery systems
• Exploitation of polymeric nanocarriers for immunotherapy
• Microenvironment-responsive (i.e., pH, redox, enzyme, etc.) polymeric nanovehicles
• Exogenous stimuli-responsive (i.e., ultrasound, light, radiation, etc.) platforms
• In vitro and in vivo evaluation of polymeric nanocarriers
• Application of intelligent drug delivery nanosystems
• Recent advances in preclinical and clinical researches of functional polymeric nanomedicines