Yu Gan,1,2 Yingying Yu,1 Huizhe Xu,2 Haozhe Piao1 

1Department of Neurosurgery, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Cancer Hospital of Dalian University of Technology, Liaoning Cancer Hospital & Institute, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Central Laboratory, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Cancer Hospital of Dalian University of Technology, Liaoning Cancer Hospital & Institute, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Huizhe Xu; Haozhe Piao, Email xuhuizhe@cancerhosp-ln-cmu.com; pzpy@163.com

Abstract: Glioma is a primary malignant tumor in the central nervous system. In recent years, the treatment of glioma has developed rapidly, but the overall survival of glioma patients has not significantly improved. Due to the presence of the blood–brain barrier and intracranial tumor barrier, many drugs with good effects to cure glioma in vitro cannot be accurately transported to the corresponding lesions. In order to enable anti-tumor drugs to overcome the barriers and target glioma, nanodrug delivery systems have emerged recently. It is gratifying that liposomes, as a multifunctional nanodrug delivery carrier, which can be compatible with hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, easily functionalized by various targeted ligands, biodegradable, and hypoimmunogenic in vivo, has become a quality choice to solve the intractable problem of glioma medication. Therefore, we focused on the liposome nanodrug delivery system, and summarized its current research progress in glioma. Hopefully, this review may provide new ideas for the research and development of liposome-based nanomaterials for the clinical treatment of glioma.

Keywords: glioma, blood‒brain barrier, nanomaterials, liposome, nanoparticle drug delivery system