Delivery of peptide and protein drugs over the blood–brain barrier.pdf

Progress in Neurobiology 87 (2009) 212–251 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Progress in Neurobiology journal homepage: www.els /locate/pneurobio Delivery of peptide and protein drugs over the blood–brain barrier Ivona Brasnjevic, Harry W.M. Steinbusch, Christoph Schmitz, Pilar Martinez-Martinez * the European NanoBioPharmaceutics Research Initiative1 European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Peptide and protein (P/P) drugs have been identified as showing great promises for the treatment of Received 16 August 2007 various neurodegenerative diseases. A major challenge in this regard, however, is the delivery of P/P Received in revised form 11 November 2008 drugs over the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Intense research over the last 25 years has enabled a better Accepted 17 December 2008 understanding of the cellular and molecular transport mechanisms at the BBB, and several strategies for enhanced P/P drug delivery over the BBB have been developed and tested in preclinical and clinical– Keywords: experimental research. Among them, technology-based approaches (comprising functionalized Blood–brain barrier nanocarriers and li