Nanomedicine: A Useful Tool against Glioma Stem Cells

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Glioblastoma is one of the deadliest brain cancers, and despite the efforts made in the last few years, the life expectancy of patients is still low. In most cases, even with the best treatments available, the tumor will eventually return. One of the main causes of this appears to be a fraction of cancer cells that are known as glioma stem cells. They have different characteristics than normal cancer cells, and some drugs can eliminate them. However, using such drugs is not always safe or effective, and nanomedicine can have improved effects as well as additional benefits. This review focuses on the nanomedicine strategies that have been employed in the last 5 years and their relative advantages, which make nanomedicine a promising approach for the eradication of glioma stem cells. ABSTRACT: The standard of care therapy of glioblastoma (GBM) includes invasive surgical resection, followed by radiotherapy and concomitant chemotherapy. However, this therapy has limited success, and the prognosis for GBM patients is very poor. Although many factors may contribute to the failure of current treatments, one of the main causes of GBM recurrences are glioma stem cells (GSCs). This review focuses on nanomedicine strategies that have been developed to eliminate GSCs and the benefits that they have brought to the fight against cancer. The first section describes the characteristics of GSCs and the chemotherapeutic strategies that have been used to selectively kill them. The second section outlines the nano-based delivery systems that have been developed to act against GSCs by dividing them into nontargeted and targeted nanocarriers. We also highlight the advantages of nanomedicine compared to conventional chemotherapy and examine the different targeting strategies that have been employed. The results achieved thus far are encouraging for the pursuit of effective strategies for the eradication of GSCs.