A review of Cell-penetrating peptide mediated drug delivery to the brain

Abstract

The central nervous system (CNS) is prone to different CNS disorders such as stroke, tumor, different neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s diseases etc. There are several treatment strategies available such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, chemotherapeutic drugs etc. But the physiological barrier of CNS, the blood- brain barrier (BBB) poses as a main hindrance in these treatments. In this regard, cell- penetrating peptides (CPPs) mediated approach can be a promising treatment strategy to deliver the drug to brain crossing the BBB. CPPs are small peptides containing positive charge, can cross the cellular membrane and translocate different cargos containing protein, peptides, nucleic acids. They also have proven their ability to cross the BBB and deliver the cargos for efficient neural drug administration. They have less side effects and cytotoxcity. In this review, the main objective is to explore the potentiality of CPPs in delivering the drug to CNS for CNS disorders.