Rational design of multifunctional nanoparticles for brain tumor targeting

Malignant gliomas are rapidly growing and invasive brain tumors that are refractory to treatment with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Unlike solid tumors in other organs of the body, brain tumors remain uniquely difficult to identify and treat due to their infiltration of normal brain tissue and escape from the action of circulating chemotherapeutic or biological agents behind the bloodbrain barrier. Nanoparticle technology may offer new diagnostic and treatment approaches to this clinically challenging tumor. In this review, we discuss the design features that would enable the use of nanoparticles in the central nervous system for the rapid diagnosis of gliomas, enhancing surgical resection, and providing new therapeutic options. The challenges to using nanoparticles in the central nervous system such as delivery across the blood-brain barrier, neurotoxicity, and tumor cell specificity are discussed along with potential solutions. Future directions include the evaluation of short and long-term neurological and systemic effects of glioma specific particles and the assessment of nanoparticle efficacy in a wide array of preclinical brain tumor model systems.

Duke Scholars

Author Alexa Bramall Neurosurgery