Reactive oxidative species (ROS)-based nanomedicine for BBB crossing and glioma treatment: current status and future directions

Glioma is the most common primary intracranial tumor in adults with poor prognosis. Current clinical treatment for glioma includes surgical resection along with chemoradiotherapy. However, the therapeutic efficacy is still unsatisfactory. The invasive nature of the glioma makes it impossible to completely resect it. The presence of blood-brain barrier (BBB) blocks chemotherapeutic drugs access to brain parenchyma for glioma treatment. Besides, tumor heterogeneity and hypoxic tumor microenvironment remarkably limit the efficacy of radiotherapy. With rapid advances of nanotechnology, the emergence of a new treatment approach, namely, reactive oxygen species (ROS)-based nanotherapy, provides an effective approach for eliminating glioma via generating large amounts of ROS in glioma cells. In addition, the emerging nanotechnology also provides BBB-crossing strategies, which allows effective ROS-based nanotherapy of glioma. In this review, we summarized ROS-based nanomedicine and their application in glioma treatment, including photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), chemodynamic therapy (CDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), radiation therapy, etc. Moreover, the current challenges and future prospects of ROS-based nanomedicine are also elucidated with the intention to accelerate its clinical translation.

Automated summary

Glioma, the most common primary intracranial tumor in adults, has poor prognosis. Current treatment methods, including surgery and chemoradiotherapy, have limited efficacy. The emerging field of nanotechnology offers a new approach called reactive oxygen species (ROS)-based nanotherapy, which generates large amounts of ROS in glioma cells to effectively eliminate the tumor. Nanotechnology also provides strategies to cross the blood-brain barrier, allowing effective ROS-based nanotherapy for glioma. This review summarizes the application of ROS-based nanomedicine in glioma treatment and discusses the current challenges and future prospects for clinical translation.