Breaching barriers in glioblastoma. Part II: Targeted drug delivery and lipid nanoparticles

Tailored nanocarriers have gained huge research focus for brain drug delivery, aimed at combating several neuro-oncological conditions, such as the glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The progress of knowledge on the pathogenesis of GBM has allowed identifying the major hurdles for efficient treatment, encompassing biological interfaces (blood-brain barrier and blood-brain tumour barrier), specificities of tumour microenvironment, as well as both bulk and glioma stem cell subpopulations. These findings provided new insights into the molecular basis of GBM, being a strong driving force behind development of targeted nanomedicines in this area. Diversified nanoparticles have been designed to target GBM surface markers, overexpressed receptors, aberrant genes and signalling pathways, in addition to contemplating barriers targeting strategies. Among the nanocarriers explored, lipid nanoparticles claim important and unique features, including the versatility in promoting both passive and active drug targeting, making them excellent candidates for brain drug delivery and one of the most appealing to overcome the obstacles of the current GBM treatment. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.