Beyond the blood-brain barrier

Abstract

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a stealth barrier that protects the brain, and allows the entry of only a select pool of compounds into the brain and functions towards the maintenance of brain homeostasis. Brain tumors are one of the most prevalent tumors of the central nervous system that affect all age groups, and they have recently surpassed leukemia as the leading cause of cancer death. Due to the low permeability and high selectivity of the BBB to conventional anticancer drugs, effective treatments for brain tumors remain a challenge. In the last 20 years, tremendous efforts have been made to fabricate novel delivery strategies against brain cancer, and, amongst them, nanotechnology-mediated targeted delivery approaches have shown promising outcomes. In this chapter, we have summarized the role of the BBB and various nanotechnologies used to target drugs for the treatment of brain tumor. Herein, we also briefly discussed the hurdles, challenges, and safety considerations in using nanotechnology-mediated targeted delivery for brain tumors. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.