Drug Delivery In Brain Tumors Research Articles

Delivery of Transferrin-Conjugated Polysaccharide Nanoparticles in 9L Gliosacoma Cells.

To investigate the possibility of drug targeting via the transferrin receptor-mediated pathway, iron-saturated transferrin was conjugated with chitosan (Tr-chitosan) and complexed with doxorubicin-conjugated methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-dextran succinate (DEX-DOX). DEX-DOX nanoparticles have spherical morphologies with less than 150 nm particle sizes. When Tr-chitosan was complexed with DEX-DOX nanoparticles (TR nanoparticle), particle sizes were increased to higher than 200 nm. Viability of 9L cells with treatment of doxorubicin (DOX) or DEX-DOX nanoparticle was dose-dependently decreased regardless of transferrin receptor blocking. However, cytotoxicity of TR nanoparticles was reduced by blocking of transferrin receptor. Flow cytometric analysis and confocal microscopic observation showed that fluorescence intensity of tumor cells with treatment of TR nanoparticles was significantly decreased by blocking of transferring receptor while DEX-DOX nanoparticles were not affected by blocking of transferring receptor. These results indicated that TR nanoparticles are promising candidates for brain tumor drug delivery.

SPIO-conjugated, doxorubicin-loaded microbubbles for concurrent MRI and focused-ultrasound enhanced brain-tumor drug delivery

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) can be temporarily and locally opened by focused ultrasound (FUS) in the presence of circulating microbubbles (MBs). Currently, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) is used to monitor contrast agent leakage to verify BBB-opening and infer drug deposition. However, despite being administered concurrently, MBs, therapeutic agent, and contrast agent have distinct pharmacodynamic behaviors, thus complicating the quantification and optimization of BBB-opening and drug delivery. Here we propose multifunctional MBs loaded with therapeutic agent (doxorubicin; DOX) and conjugated with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles. These DOX-SPIO-MBs were designed to concurrently open the BBB and perform drug delivery upon FUS exposure, act as dual MRI and ultrasound contrast agent, and allow magnetic targeting (MT) to achieve enhanced drug delivery. We performed burst-tone FUS after injection of DOX-SPIO-MBs, followed by MT with an external magnet attached to the scalp in a rat glioma model. Animals were monitored by T2-weighted MRI and susceptibility weighted imaging and the concentration of SPIO particles was determined by spin–spin relaxivity. We found that DOX-SPIO-MBs were stable and provided significant superparamagnetic/acoustic properties for imaging. BBB-opening and drug delivery were achieved concurrently during the FUS exposure. In addition, MT increased local SPIO deposition in tumor regions by 22.4%. Our findings suggest that DOX-SPIO-MBs with FUS could be an excellent theranostic tool for future image-guided drug delivery to brain tumors.

Polyethyleneimine-modified iron oxide nanoparticles for brain tumor drug delivery using magnetic targeting and intra-carotid administration

This study aimed to examine the applicability of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-modified magnetic nanoparticles (GPEI) as a potential vascular drug/gene carrier to brain tumors. In vitro, GPEI exhibited high cell association and low cell toxicity – properties which are highly desirable for intracellular drug/gene delivery. In addition, a high saturation magnetization of 93 emu/g Fe was expected to facilitate magnetic targeting of GPEI to brain tumor lesions. However, following intravenous administration, GPEI could not be magnetically accumulated in tumors of rats harboring orthotopic 9L-gliosarcomas due to its poor pharmacokinetic properties, reflected by a negligibly low plasma AUC of 12 ± 3 μg Fe/ml min. To improve “passive” GPEI presentation to brain tumor vasculature for subsequent “active” magnetic capture, we examined the intra-carotid route as an alternative for nanoparticle administration. Intra-carotid administration in conjunction with magnetic targeting resulted in 30-fold ( p = 0.002) increase in tumor entrapment of GPEI compared to that seen with intravenous administration. In addition, magnetic accumulation of cationic GPEI (ζ-potential = + 37.2 mV) in tumor lesions was 5.2-fold higher ( p = 0.004) than that achieved with slightly anionic G100 (ζ-potential = −12 mV) following intra-carotid administration, while no significant accumulation difference was detected between the two types of nanoparticles in the contra-lateral brain ( p = 0.187). These promising results warrant further investigation of GPEI as a potential cell-permeable, magnetically-responsive platform for brain tumor delivery of drugs and genes.

Drug delivery systems for brain tumor therapy.

Brain tumors are one of the most lethal forms of cancer. They are extremely difficult to treat. Although, the rate of brain tumor incidence is relatively low, the field clearly lacks therapeutic strategies capable of overcoming barriers for effective delivery of drugs to brain tumors. Clinical failure of many potentially effective therapeutics for the treatment of brain tumors is usually not due to a lack of drug potency, but rather can be attributed to shortcomings in the methods by which a drug is delivered to the brain and into brain tumors. In response to the lack of efficacy of conventional drug delivery methods, extensive efforts have been made to develop novel strategies to overcome the obstacles for brain tumor drug delivery. The challenge is to design therapeutic strategies that deliver drugs to brain tumors in a safe and effective manner. This review provides some insight into several potential techniques that have been developed to improve drug delivery to brain tumors, and it should be helpful to clinicians and research scientists as well.