Brain Cancer: Implication to Disease, Therapeutic Strategies and Tumor Targeted Drug Delivery Approaches

Background: Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Brain cancer is identified as one of the most formidable forms of cancer due to several hurdles posed by the anatomy and physiology of the brain on the therapeutic strategies employed for treating brain cancer. Poor prognosis and high relapse rate further aggravate the situation leading to the high mortality rate in brain cancer. Objective: The present review gives a brief insight on different aspects of brain cancer by elucidating its types, causative factors, associated symptoms, diagnostic techniques, treatment strategies and limitations of current treatment strategies. The review summarizes novel drug delivery based treatment strategies for tumor targeting. Methods: Conventional surgical or chemotherapy based strategies are less efficient for treating brain cancer. Surgery is risky because extracting the tumors can permanently damage the brain and alter the patient's ability to function. Sometimes, surgery cannot be performed because of the anatomical location of the tumor which is beyond the reach or near to any vital region. Drug based therapy requires heavy doses to cross the blood brain barrier leading to systemic toxicity. The review summarizes fifteen different patented technologies for targeting the drug substance specifically to the tumor site in the brain. Result: Targeted drug delivery strategies serve as an efficient tool for treating brain cancer. Conclusion: Novel strategies focused towards targeting drug substances specifically to brain tumor site would increase the therapeutic efficiency and reduce the toxicity of chemotherapeutics.