Title:Recent Advancements in Liposome-Based Strategies for Effective Drug Delivery to the Brain
Volume: 28
Issue: 21
Author(s): Parvin Zamani, Peter E. Penson, George E. Barreto and Amirhossein Sahebkar*
Affiliation:
- Applied Biomedical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad,Iran
Keywords:
Blood-brain barrier, drug targeting, dual ligand-modified liposomes, transferrin, cell-penetrating peptide,
central nervous system.
Abstract: Disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) and tumors of the brain are
challenging to treat, and they rank amongst the most common causes of death worldwide.
The delivery of drugs to the brain is problematic because the blood-brain barrier
(BBB) effectively arrests the transport of large molecules (including drugs) from the
blood to the CNS. Nanoparticle (NP)-mediated drug delivery has received much interest
as a technique to overcome this difficulty. In particular, liposome NPs are promising candidates
to carry and deliver drugs across the BBB and into the CNS. Liposomes are easy
to prepare, highly biodegradable, and biocompatible. Liposomes can be easily modified
with various ligands to enable efficient and targeted drug delivery. Liposomes can promote
increased cellular uptake of drugs and can reduce the extent to which efflux transporters
can remove drugs. Liposomes can be loaded with a wide range of drugs and biologically
active substances. In this review, we will summarize recent advances in research
relating to liposome-based strategies to enable drug delivery across the BBB.
