Malignant brain tumor: Current progresses in diagnosis, treatment and future strategies

Abstract

Malignant brain tumor remains as a mysterious disease in medical oncology in terms of its highly heterogeneous
nature, complicacy in early detection with limited treatment options. Glioma, being the most common form of
malignant brain tumor has been evolved as one of the major threats to mankind across the globe. Once considered as
a disease of the west, brain cancer in recent years has outstretched its claws across the eastern world including all
developing countries. In India too, alarming number of fresh cases are being diagnosed annually from last few years,
which necessitates urgent use of cutting age technologies along with novel formulation strategies to control the
disease. Nanotherapeutic approaches at present hold promising potential to revolutionalize the conventional drug
delivery strategies through effective by-passing of blood-brain barrier with decreased off-target distribution. Further,
nanocarrier platforms can be surface-engineered with specific moieties to offer tumor specific diagnosis, treatment
and track monitoring. Such modified nanodrug carriers, however have largely been confined to in vitro laboratory
studies with lack of sufficient in vivo data, which is the need of the hour for their rapid clinical translation. This
review summarizes the present stages of diagnosis and treatment options for malignant brain tumor along with recent
progresses made in this area over the past few years. Side by side a brief discussion is there regarding the practical
hurdles faced by the nanotherapeutics for their successful clinical trials and large scale production with an eye
towards future perspectives.