Application For Nanotechnology For the Treatment of Brain Diseases and Disorders

Brain diseases and disorders, such as dementia and glioblastoma, are among the deadliest diseases in humans, and put an overwhelming burden on healthcare systems. Despite recent progress in elucidating the causes of brain diseases, a limited amount of effective therapeutics have been developed. One major obstacle is the efficient delivery of therapeutic agents across the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) into the affected region of the brain.

Utilizing nanoparticles as a drug delivery system provides a simple and effective approach, with improved efficacy and bioavailability. In the last two decades, numerous advances have been made in this field, which will bring nanomedicine closer to the clinic and bring new therapeutic options for the treatment of brain diseases which have proved challenging to treat. Such advancements include improvements in the novel design of nanoparticles with tissue compatibility, versatile loading capacity, BBB penetration ability and greater target specificity.

Despite the progress in recent years, our understanding of how to design effective nanomedicine to target the brain is still nascent. In this Research Topic, we would like to address the following challenges but not limited to these:

1. The basic cell biology of pathways, especially transcytosis, for nanomedicine to cross the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) is elusive
2. The strategies to improve the specificity of nanomedicine towards brain vasculature and parenchyma, leading to high efficacy and low toxicity of nanomedicine
3. The design of novel nanoparticles to deliver gene therapeutics (such as siRNA, mRNA and CRISPR) to the brain.

For this Research Topic we would welcome contributions from the following areas:

• Nanotechnology based novel strategies/approaches for brain disease therapy
• Advancement in the mechanism involved in the regulation of the BBB
• Novel in vitro models with high throughput capability to closely mimic the BBB
• In vivo imaging to visualize and measure dynamics of the process of nanomedicine crossing the BBB
• Advancement in the delivery of therapeutics to brain by nanocarriers
• Long-term safety of nanomedicine in treating brain diseases

Drs. Zhang, Zou and Banks hold patents related to nanotechnology, drug delivery and brain disease and Dr. Shi has created three technologies for Minomics International Ltd, USUN Bio Tech. Co. Ltd. and Eleaf Ltd. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.