Open AccessTransferrin: Biology and Use in Receptor-Targeted Nanotherapy of Gliomas
Author(s) -
Tejaswi Koneru,
Eva McCord,
Shreya Pawar,
Katyayani Tatiparti,
Samaresh Sau,
Arun K. Iyer
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs omega
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2470-1343
DOI - 10.1021/acsomega.0c05848
Subject(s) - transferrin receptor , transferrin , glioma , receptor , blood–brain barrier , cancer research , medicine , brain tumor , pathology , central nervous system
Gliomas constitute 80% of malignant brain tumors. The survival rate of patients diagnosed with malignant gliomas is only 34.4%, as seen in both adults as well as children. The biggest challenge in treatment of gliomas is the impenetrable blood-brain barrier. With the availability of only a very few choices of chemotherapeutics in the treatment of gliomas, it is imperative that a novel strategy to effectively deliver drugs into the brain is researched and applied. The most popular strategy that is gaining importance is the receptor-mediated uptake of targeted nanoparticles comprising of ligands specific to the receptors. This review discusses briefly one such receptor called the transferrin receptor that is highly expressed in the brain and can be applied effectively for targeted nanoparticle delivery systems in gliomas.