PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Li Tu
AU  - Zheng Luo
AU  - Yun-Long Wu
AU  - Shuaidong Huo
AU  - Xing-Jie Liang
TI  - Gold-based nanomaterials for the treatment of brain cancer
AID  - 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2020.0524
DP  - 2021 May 01
TA  - Cancer Biology and Medicine
PG  - 372--387
VI  - 18
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.cancerbiomed.org/content/18/2/372.short
4100  - http://www.cancerbiomed.org/content/18/2/372.full
SO  - Cancer Biol Med2021 May 01; 18
AB  - Brain cancer, also known as intracranial cancer, is one of the most invasive and fatal cancers affecting people of all ages. Despite the great advances in medical technology, improvements in transporting drugs into brain tissue have been limited by the challenge of crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Fortunately, recent endeavors using gold-based nanomaterials (GBNs) have indicated the potential of these materials to cross the BBB. Therefore, GBNs might be an attractive therapeutic strategy against brain cancer. Herein, we aim to present a comprehensive summary of current understanding of the critical effects of the physicochemical properties and surface modifications of GBNs on BBB penetration for applications in brain cancer treatment. Furthermore, the most recent GBNs and their impressive performance in precise bioimaging and efficient inhibition of brain tumors are also summarized, with an emphasis on the mechanism of their effective BBB penetration. Finally, the challenges and future outlook in using GBNs for brain cancer treatment are discussed. We hope that this review will spark researchers’ interest in constructing more powerful nanoplatforms for brain disease treatment.