Drug encapsulated polymeric microspheres for intracranial tumor therapy: A review of the literature

Abstract

Despite intensive surgical excision, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, the current life expectancy for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme is only 12 to 15months. One of the approaches being explored to increase chemotherapeutic efficacy is to locally deliver chemotherapeutics encapsulated within degradable, polymeric microspheres. This review describes the techniques used to formulate drug encapsulated microspheres targeted for intracranial tumor therapy and how microsphere characteristics such as drug loading and encapsulation efficiency can be tuned based on formulation parameters. Further, the results of in vitro studies are discussed, detailing the varied drug release profiles obtained and validation of drug efficacy. Finally, in vivo results are summarized, highlighting the study design and the effectiveness of the drug encapsulated microspheres applied intracranially.

Keywords: 5-Fluorouracil; Chemotherapeutics; Drug delivery; Emulsion; Gliomas; Localized therapy; Microspheres; Paclitaxel.