Brain Tumors Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Brain Tumors, including details on symptoms, benign and malignant tumors, gliomas, screening, treatment.

Blood-brain barrier and chemotherapeutic treatment of brain tumors.

van den Brink-de Vries NA, Beijnen JH, Boogerd W, van Tellingen O

The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands. na.d.vries@nki.nl

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is of pivotal importance to maintain homeostasis of the CNS, as it closely regulates the composition of the interstitial fluid in the brain. Unfortunately, malignancies that grow within the CNS may evade chemotherapeutic drugs using the same barrier, making this disease refractory to most chemotherapy regimens. This review will outline the impact of the BBB in brain cancer and discuss the efforts that have been made to enhance the drug exposure of brain tumors. Although this review will focus on the role of the BBB in primary brain cancer (malignant glioma), its impact on brain metastases will also be briefly discussed.

Published 8 August 2006 in Expert Rev Neurother, 6(8): 1199-209.
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