Augmenting Glioblastoma Chemotherapy with Polymers

Abstract

Chemotherapeutics are vital for treating brain tumors such as glioblastoma, an aggressive and prolific cancer predominantly treated with DNA alkylating agents. The efficacy of antiglioblastoma drugs, such as temozolomide, is limited by their rapid clearance and instability under normal physiological conditions. Both local and systemic polymer-based therapeutics have shown promise for treating many cancers, and as such there is a growing interest in applying polymer techniques to augment the efficacy and stability of glioblastoma chemotherapeutics. Notably, brain tumor chemotherapy presents unique challenges and will require tailored delivery systems to develop markedly improved treatments.