无机纳米材料在神经胶质瘤诊疗中的应用与特点

神经胶质瘤是中枢神经系统中恶性程度与侵袭性最高的肿瘤之一,其难治性和高致死性亟需尽快开发新的诊疗方法。近年来,各种无机纳米材料独特的内在物化特性的探索应用,为神经胶质瘤的早期诊断和靶向治疗带来了新希望。该文系统地介绍了当前已应用于神经胶质瘤诊疗研究的一些重要无机纳米材料,包括纳米金、纳米银、超顺磁性氧化铁、石墨烯、碳纳米管、介孔硅、半导体量子点、上转换纳米材料、层状双氢氧化物以及二硫化钼。在神经胶质瘤诊断方面,超顺磁性氧化铁、量子点和上转换纳米材料等无机纳米材料,具有优异的肿瘤组织成像性能,能提高诊断的灵敏性,可实现对神经胶质瘤的早期诊断和实时监测;在治疗方面,大多数无机纳米材料进行功能性修饰后用作靶向药物载体,可加载多种抗癌的药物、基因和抗体等,提高靶向输送能力,以实现对胶质瘤的靶向治疗,延长药物在体内的半衰期,同时减少全身副作用;其中,纳米金和纳米银还可用于神经胶质瘤放射增敏治疗,碳纳米管和超顺磁性氧化铁可分别用于神经胶质瘤光热治疗和磁热治疗,达到安全特异的治疗效果。这些无机纳米材料尽管在体内降解、靶向可控性、个体化等技术性问题上还需要进一步解决,但其探索应用已为神经胶质瘤治疗研究提供了新的方向。

Application and Characteristics of Inorganic Nanomaterials in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Glioma

Glioma is one of the most aggressive and malignant cancers in the central nervous system,and its resistance to drugs and high lethality impels us to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies as soon as possible.Recently,inorganic nanomaterials with various unique intrinsic physical properties were developed and used for glioma diagnosis and treatments,providing novel insights into the early diagnosis,intervention and targeted therapy of glioma.Here we briefly introduce some important inorganic nanomaterials used in glioma research,including gold nanoparticles,silver nanoparticles,superparamagnetic iron oxide,graphene,carbon nanotubes,mesoporous silicon,semiconductor quantum dots,up-conversion nanomaterials,layered double hydroxides,and molybdenum disulfide.In respect of glioma diagnosis,inorganic nanomaterials including superparamagnetic iron oxide,quantum dots and layered double hydroxides have excellent imaging performance for tumor tissues and improved the sensitivity of diagnosis,thus may play a potential role in both early diagnosis and real-time monitoring of glioma.In terms of glioma therapy,most of the inorganic nanomaterials above can be modified functionally as targeted-drug carriers to be loaded with anti-cancer drugs,genes and antibodies,to increase the targeted delivery capacity to achieve effective targeted treatment of gliomas,to prolong the half-life of drugs in vivo,and to reduce the side effects.In particular,gold or silver nanoparticles can be used for radiosensitization of gliomas,and both carbon nanotubes and superparamagnetic iron oxide can be used for photothermal and magnetothermal treatments against gliomas.All can achieve much safer and specific therapeutic effects.The above-mentioned inorganic nanomaterials have been widely explored and applied in the diagnosis and treatment of glioma,providing a new direction for the research of related tumor therapies.Although the issues of in vivo degradation,targeted controllability,individualization and other technicalities still need to be further resolved for these inorganic nanomaterials,their exploration and application in glioma research have provided novel insights into its treatment and therapy in the future.