Advancements in nanoengineered paclitaxel formulations: A comprehensive review of blood-brain barrier infiltration strategies for glioblastoma therapy

Glioblastoma multiform (GBM), the most occurring brain tumor comprises radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery as its treatment modalities. A significant hurdle is the insufficient or impeded transport of drugs to the central nervous system (CNS), linked to the protective influence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Nanotechnology can help to deliver therapeutic drugs into the central nervous system (CNS) by crossing the BBB. Paclitaxel (PTX) is a broad-spectrum anticancer compound that possesses scientifically proven anticancer activity. Despite having limited applications due to partial solubility and toxicity due to cosolvent preparation, it has shown encouraging outcomes in the treatment of GBM. In these cases, nanotechnology and nanoparticles added certain advantages such as increasing drug half-life, lowering toxicity, and enhancing the permeability and retention across BBB in tumor targeting. This review article is aimed at summarizing the current state of research works on nanotechnology and nanoparticles (NPs) containing PTX in the treatment of Glioblastoma.