Nadia N. Hossainy

Jan 7, 2025 | nature.com | Ayden Case |Nadia N. Hossainy |Johnathan Lyon |Tobey J MacDonald |Ravi Bellamkonda |Nassir Mokarram

The blood-brain barrier, essential for protecting the central nervous system, also restricts drug delivery to this region. Thus, delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier is an active research area in immunology, oncology, and neurology; moreover, novel methods are urgently needed to expand therapeutic options for central nervous system pathologies. While previous strategies have focused on small molecules that modulate blood-brain barrier permeability or penetrate the barrier, there is an increased focus on biomedical devices—external or implanted—for improving drug delivery. Here, we review device-assisted drug delivery across the blood–brain barrier, emphasizing its application in glioblastoma, an aggressively malignant primary brain cancer in which the blood-brain barrier plays a central role. We examine the blood-brain barrier and its features in glioblastoma, emerging models for studying the blood-brain barrier, and device-assisted methods for crossing the blood-brain barrier. We conclude by presenting methods to monitor the blood-brain barrier and paradigms for combined cross-BBB drug delivery. Delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier is important for medical treatments in immunology, oncology, and neurology. This Review discusses the use of implanted and external devices for delivering drugs for the treatment of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.