Title:Recent Approaches and Success of Liposome-Based Nano Drug Carriers
for the Treatment of Brain Tumor
Volume: 19
Issue: 8
Author(s): Tapan Kumar Shaw*Paramita Paul
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, JIS University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Keywords:
Blood-brain barrier, brain targeting, brain tumor, enhanced permeability and retention effect, glioma, liposomes, treatment of brain tumor.
Abstract: Brain tumors are nothing but a collection of neoplasms that originate either from areas
within the brain or from systemic metastasized tumors of other organs spread to the brain. It is a
leading cause of death worldwide. The presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood-brain tumor
barrier (BBTB), and some other factors may limit the entry of many potential therapeutics into
the brain tissues in the tumor area at the therapeutic concentration required for satisfying effectiveness.
Liposomes play an active role in delivering many drugs through BBB into the tumor due to
their nanosize and physiological compatibility. The surface of the liposomes can be modified with
various ligands that are very specific to the numerous receptors overexpressed onto the BBB as
well as onto the diseased tumor surface site (i.e., BBTB) to deliver selective drugs into the tumor
site. Further, this colloidal carrier can encapsulate both lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs due to its
unique structure. Moreover, the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect can be an added
advantage for nanosize liposomes to concentrate into the tumor microenvironment through relatively
leaky vasculature of solid tumor in the brain where no penetration restriction applies compared
to normal BBB. Here in this review, we have tried to compile the recent advancement along with
the associated challenges of liposomes containing different anti-cancer chemotherapeutics across
the BBB/BBTB for the treatment of gliomas that will be very helpful for the readers for better understanding
of different trends of brain tumor targeted liposomes-based drug delivery and for pursuing
fruitful research on the similar research domain.
