Delivering therapeutics to the central nervous system（CNS） and brain-tumor has been a major challenge. The current standard treatment approaches for the brain-tumor comprise of surgical resection followed by immunot...Delivering therapeutics to the central nervous system（CNS） and brain-tumor has been a major challenge. The current standard treatment approaches for the brain-tumor comprise of surgical resection followed by immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, the current treatments are limited in providing significant benefits to the patients and despite recent technological advancements; brain-tumor is still challenging to treat. Brain-tumor therapy is limited by the lack of effective and targeted strategies to deliver chemotherapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier（BBB）. The BBB is the main obstacle that must be overcome to allow compounds to reach their targets in the brain. Recent advances have boosted the nanotherapeutic approaches in providing an attractive strategy in improving the drug delivery across the BBB and into the CNS. Compared to conventional formulations, nanoformulations offer significant ad vantages in CNS drug delivery approaches. Considering the above facts, in this review, the physiological/anatomical features of the brain-tumor and the BBB are briefly discussed. The drug transport mechanisms at the BBB are outlined. The approaches to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs across the CNS into the brain-tumor using nanocarriers are summarized. In addition, the challenges that need to be addressed in nanotherapeutic approaches for their enhanced clinical application in brain-tumor therapy are discussed.展开更多
Brain tumor incidence shows an upward trend in recent years; brain tumors account for 5% of adult tumors, while in children, this figure has increased to 70%. Moreover, 20%–30% of malignant tumors will eventually met...Brain tumor incidence shows an upward trend in recent years; brain tumors account for 5% of adult tumors, while in children, this figure has increased to 70%. Moreover, 20%–30% of malignant tumors will eventually metastasize into the brain. Both benign and malignant tumors can cause an increase in intracranial pressure and brain tissue compression, leading to central nervous system(CNS) damage which endangers the patients' lives. Despite the many approaches to treating brain tumors and the progress that has been made, only modest gains in survival time of brain tumor patients have been achieved. At present, chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for many cancers, but the special structure of the blood–brain barrier(BBB) limits most chemotherapeutic agents from passing through the BBB and penetrating into tumors in the brain. The BBB microenvironment contains numerous cell types, including endothelial cells, astrocytes, peripheral cells and microglia, and extracellular matrix(ECM). Many chemical components of natural products are reported to regulate the BBB microenvironment near brain tumors and assist in their treatment. This review focuses on the composition and function of the BBB microenvironment under both physiological and pathological conditions, and the current research progress in regulating the BBB microenvironment by natural products to promote the treatment of brain tumors.展开更多
文摘Delivering therapeutics to the central nervous system（CNS） and brain-tumor has been a major challenge. The current standard treatment approaches for the brain-tumor comprise of surgical resection followed by immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, the current treatments are limited in providing significant benefits to the patients and despite recent technological advancements; brain-tumor is still challenging to treat. Brain-tumor therapy is limited by the lack of effective and targeted strategies to deliver chemotherapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier（BBB）. The BBB is the main obstacle that must be overcome to allow compounds to reach their targets in the brain. Recent advances have boosted the nanotherapeutic approaches in providing an attractive strategy in improving the drug delivery across the BBB and into the CNS. Compared to conventional formulations, nanoformulations offer significant ad vantages in CNS drug delivery approaches. Considering the above facts, in this review, the physiological/anatomical features of the brain-tumor and the BBB are briefly discussed. The drug transport mechanisms at the BBB are outlined. The approaches to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs across the CNS into the brain-tumor using nanocarriers are summarized. In addition, the challenges that need to be addressed in nanotherapeutic approaches for their enhanced clinical application in brain-tumor therapy are discussed.
基金supported by the Shanghai Rising-Star Program of China (13QA1403400)Shanghai Talent Development Funds (201665)+3 种基金Natural Science Foundation of China (81773909)Excellent Youth Program of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning (2017YQ060)Medical Profession Scholarship of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese MedicineThe Open Project Program of Key Lab of Smart Drug Delivery, Fudan University (SDD2017-01)
文摘Brain tumor incidence shows an upward trend in recent years; brain tumors account for 5% of adult tumors, while in children, this figure has increased to 70%. Moreover, 20%–30% of malignant tumors will eventually metastasize into the brain. Both benign and malignant tumors can cause an increase in intracranial pressure and brain tissue compression, leading to central nervous system(CNS) damage which endangers the patients' lives. Despite the many approaches to treating brain tumors and the progress that has been made, only modest gains in survival time of brain tumor patients have been achieved. At present, chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for many cancers, but the special structure of the blood–brain barrier(BBB) limits most chemotherapeutic agents from passing through the BBB and penetrating into tumors in the brain. The BBB microenvironment contains numerous cell types, including endothelial cells, astrocytes, peripheral cells and microglia, and extracellular matrix(ECM). Many chemical components of natural products are reported to regulate the BBB microenvironment near brain tumors and assist in their treatment. This review focuses on the composition and function of the BBB microenvironment under both physiological and pathological conditions, and the current research progress in regulating the BBB microenvironment by natural products to promote the treatment of brain tumors.
