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Drug delivery to brain tumours: challenges and progress
1Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute, Memorial Health University Medial Center, 4700 Waters Avenue, Savannah, GA 31403, USA. nningaraj@bellsouth.net
Abstract:
Nearly 12.5 million new cancer cases are diagnosed worldwide each year. Although new treatments have been developed, most new anticancer drugs that are effective outside the brain have failed in clinical trials against brain tumours, in part due to poor penetration across the blood-brain barrier and the blood-brain tumour barrier. This review will discuss the challenges of drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier/blood-brain tumour barrier to cancer cells, as well as progress made so far. This will include a biochemical modulation strategy that transiently opens the barrier to increase anticancer drug delivery selectively to brain tumours. It will also briefly discuss a quantitative non-invasive method to measure permeability changes and tumour response to treatment in the human brain.
Insights
Most anticancer drugs fail for brain tumors due to the blood-brain barrier. This review covers challenges and strategies, including biochemical modulation to improve drug delivery to brain tumors.
Area of Science:
- Neuro-oncology
- Pharmacology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Cancer remains a leading cause of death, with 12.5 million new cases diagnosed globally each year.
- Despite advances, many anticancer drugs effective in the periphery fail in clinical trials for brain tumors.
- Poor drug penetration across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-brain tumor barrier (BBTB) is a major obstacle.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the challenges associated with drug delivery across the BBB/BBTB to brain tumor cells.
- To discuss current progress and novel strategies for overcoming these delivery challenges.
- To highlight a specific biochemical modulation approach for enhancing targeted drug delivery.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on drug delivery across the BBB and BBTB.
- Discussion of biochemical modulation strategies to transiently open the BBB/BBTB.
- Brief overview of a quantitative, non-invasive method for assessing barrier permeability and treatment response.
Main Results:
- Significant challenges exist in delivering systemically administered anticancer drugs to brain tumors.
- Biochemical modulation offers a promising strategy to selectively open the BBB/BBTB, enhancing drug delivery.
- Non-invasive methods can quantify barrier permeability changes and monitor tumor response to therapy.
Conclusions:
- Overcoming BBB/BBTB penetration is critical for effective brain tumor treatment.
- Biochemical modulation represents a viable approach to improve targeted anticancer drug delivery.
- Quantitative non-invasive techniques are valuable tools for evaluating therapeutic efficacy in brain tumors.
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