Targeting central nervous system pathologies with nanomedicines

Abstract

One of the major challenges in drug development is the delivery of therapeutics to the central nervous system (CNS). The blood-brain barrier (BBB), which modulates the passage of molecules from the CNS, presents a formidable obstacle that limits brain uptake of therapeutics and, therefore, impedes the treatment of multiple neurological pathologies.

Targeted nanocarriers present an excellent opportunity for drug delivery into the brain leveraging on endogenous receptors to transport therapeutics across the BBB endothelium. Receptor-mediated transport endows multiple benefits over other conventional delivery methods such as the transient permeabilization of the BBB or the direct depositioning of intracranial depots. Herein, different strategies for nanocarrier targeting to the CNS are discussed, highlighting the challenges and recent developments.

Keywords:

• CNS; BBB; NPs; RVG; CTX

Acknowledgements

This manuscript is dedicated to Prof. Patrick Couvreur for all his achievements in the field of drug delivery. Specifically, we wish to convey our thanks to Prof. Couvreur for his help in generating novel approaches to target the brain and his outstanding contribution and friendship over the years. S.M. thanks the TAU Nano Center for the postdoctoral fellowship. A.G thanks Dr. Albert and Doris Fields trust for fellowship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by grants from the Israel Cancer Research Fund, The Lewis Family Trust, By the Susan and Mark Len Ovarian Cancer Fund, and by the Israel Science Foundation (Award #1178/16) awarded to D.P. This work was also supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie MINDED Project [grant agreement No 754490].