Sugar Coated Nanoparticles Help Cross the Brain's Toughest…

Sugar Coated Nanoparticles Help Cross the Brain's Toughest Barrier to Fight Glioblastoma Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer, and the numbers are sobering. More than 95% of patients die within five years of diagnosis. A new study from Oregon State University offers a genuinely creative approach to one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of better treatment. Treating glioblastoma has long faced two major hurdles. First, any treatment has to cross the blood brain barrier, the body's tightly controlled security system protecting the brain from substances circulating in the bloodstream. Second, once a treatment gets in, it needs to reach the tumour specifically, without damaging healthy brain tissue around it. The clever solution, disguising the treatment as sugar: Researchers designed tiny lipid nanoparticles carrying genetic material, then coated them with a sugar called mannose, closely related to glucose, the brain's main fuel source. Blood vessels