Medulloblastoma: Immune microenvironment and targeted nano-therapy

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays key roles in tumor development, progressive and metastasis. Recently, therapy strategies based on TME targeted modulation shows potential to improve the efficacy of therapeutics, which attracted much attention in pediatric brain cancer therapy. Moreover, the advanced technology on carrier design and drug formulation improved the penetrated efficiency and TME specific targeting delivery of nanoparticles for TME specific modulation. In this review, we briefly introduce the microenvironment substitutes in medulloblastoma (MB) including dendritic cells, macrophages, tumor vasculature and tumor-draining lymph nodes. In addition, we review various nano-based drug delivery strategies targeting these TME components and their applications in tumor therapy.

Keywords

• Medulloblastoma
• Tumor microenvironment
• Nanoparticles
• Immunotherapy
• TME components