Aldhubiab Bandar, Almuqbil Rashed M
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2025 Jul 18;18(7):1057. doi: 10.3390/ph18071057.
Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumour. Patients with glioblastoma have a median survival of only around 14.6 months after diagnosis, despite the availability of various conventional multimodal treatments including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Therefore, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an advanced, selective and more controlled therapeutic approach, which has minimal systemic toxicity and fewer side effects. PDT is a less invasive therapy that targets all cells or tissues that possess the photosensitizer (PS) itself, without affecting the surrounding healthy tissues. Polymeric NPs (PNPs) as carriers can improve the targeting ability and stability of PSs and co-deliver various anticancer agents to achieve combined cancer therapy. Because of their versatile tuneable features, these PNPs have the capacity to open tight junctions of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), easily transport drugs across the BBB, protect against enzymatic degradation, prolong the systemic circulation, and sustainably release the drug. Conjugated polymer NPs, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-based NPs, lipid-polymer hybrid NPs, and polyethylene-glycolated PNPs have demonstrated great potential in PDT owing to their unique biocompatibility and optical properties. Although the combination of PDT and PNPs has great potential and can provide several benefits over conventional cancer therapies, there are several limitations that are hindering its translation into clinical use. This review aims to summarize the recent advances in the combined use of PNPs and PDT in the case of glioblastoma treatment. By evaluating various types of PDT and PNPs, this review emphasizes how these innovative approaches can play an important role in overcoming glioblastoma-associated critical challenges, including BBB and tumour heterogeneity. Furthermore, this review also discusses the challenges and future directions for PNPs and PDT, which provides insight into the potential solutions to various problems that are hindering their clinical translation in glioblastoma treatment.
胶质母细胞瘤是最常见且侵袭性最强的原发性恶性脑肿瘤。尽管有包括化疗、放疗和手术在内的多种传统多模式治疗方法，但胶质母细胞瘤患者确诊后的中位生存期仅约14.6个月。因此，光动力疗法（PDT）已成为一种先进、选择性更强且控制更精准的治疗方法，其全身毒性极小且副作用较少。PDT是一种侵入性较小的治疗方法，可靶向所有含有光敏剂（PS）本身的细胞或组织，而不影响周围健康组织。作为载体的聚合物纳米颗粒（PNP）可以提高PS的靶向能力和稳定性，并共同递送各种抗癌药物以实现联合癌症治疗。由于其具有多种可调节特性，这些PNP有能力打开血脑屏障（BBB）的紧密连接，轻松将药物转运穿过BBB，防止酶降解，延长全身循环时间，并可持续释放药物。共轭聚合物纳米颗粒、聚乳酸-羟基乙酸共聚物基纳米颗粒、脂质-聚合物杂化纳米颗粒和聚乙二醇化PNP因其独特的生物相容性和光学特性，在PDT中已显示出巨大潜力。尽管PDT与PNP的联合具有巨大潜力，且相较于传统癌症治疗有诸多优势，但仍有一些局限性阻碍其转化为临床应用。本综述旨在总结PNP与PDT联合用于胶质母细胞瘤治疗的最新进展。通过评估各种类型的PDT和PNP，本综述强调了这些创新方法如何在克服与胶质母细胞瘤相关的关键挑战（包括BBB和肿瘤异质性）方面发挥重要作用。此外，本综述还讨论了PNP和PDT面临的挑战及未来方向，这为解决阻碍其在胶质母细胞瘤治疗中临床转化的各种问题的潜在解决方案提供了见解。
