Mahmoud Basant Salah, AlAmri Ali Hamod, McConville Christopher
College of Medical and Dental Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Hormones Department, Medical Research Division, National Research Centre, El Buhouth St., Dokki, Cairo 12622, Egypt.
Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jan 10;12(1):175. doi: 10.3390/cancers12010175.
Malignant gliomas are one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer and despite advancements in treatment, patient prognosis remains poor, with an average survival of 15 months. Treatment using conventional chemotherapy does not deliver the required drug dose to the tumour site, owing to insufficient blood brain barrier (BBB) penetration, especially by hydrophilic drugs. Additionally, low molecular weight drugs cannot achieve specific accumulation in cancerous tissues and are characterized by a short circulation half-life. Nanoparticles can be designed to cross the BBB and deliver their drugs within the brain, thus improving their effectiveness for treatment when compared to administration of the free drug. The efficacy of nanoparticles can be enhanced by surface PEGylation to allow more specificity towards tumour receptors. This review will provide an overview of the different therapeutic strategies for the treatment of malignant gliomas, risk factors entailing them as well as the latest developments for brain drug delivery. It will also address the potential of polymeric nanoparticles in the treatment of malignant gliomas, including the importance of their coating and functionalization on their ability to cross the BBB and the chemistry underlying that.
恶性胶质瘤是最致命的脑癌形式之一，尽管治疗方面有所进展，但患者预后仍然很差，平均生存期为15个月。由于血脑屏障（BBB）穿透不足，特别是亲水性药物，使用传统化疗进行治疗时无法将所需的药物剂量输送到肿瘤部位。此外，低分子量药物无法在癌组织中实现特异性蓄积，并且具有较短的循环半衰期。可以设计纳米颗粒穿过血脑屏障并在脑内递送其药物，因此与游离药物给药相比，纳米颗粒提高了其治疗效果。纳米颗粒的功效可以通过表面聚乙二醇化来增强，以实现对肿瘤受体更高的特异性。本综述将概述治疗恶性胶质瘤的不同治疗策略、涉及这些策略的风险因素以及脑药物递送的最新进展。它还将探讨聚合物纳米颗粒在治疗恶性胶质瘤方面的潜力，包括其包衣和功能化对其穿过血脑屏障能力的重要性以及其背后的化学原理。
