Enhancing Selective Brain Cancer Therapy: Integrating Nanomedicine and Molecular Dynamics to Target the Cancerous Lipid Composition

ABSTRACT Brain cancers pose significant problems to health due to their highly invasive nature and limited treatment options. The lack of advanced targeting strategies leads to restricted uptake of therapeutics across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and poor recognition of malignant brain cells. Current therapies are often designed to adhere to molecular targets that can be prone to mutation and limited to certain subtypes of cancers. To further improve the potency and selectivity within therapeutic design, the idea of targeting the cellular membrane composition distinctive of the BBB and brain cancer cells is explored herein. The notable differences between the characteristics of cancerous lipid environments and nonmalignant cells allow for more precise tumor recognition and therapeutic delivery. Nanomedicine provides the opportunity to utilize this knowledge in drug vehicle design, and detailed mechanistic interactions of therapeutics with cellular membrane compositions can be obtained with molecular dynamics simulations. This interdisciplinary approach can provide valuable insights toward enhancing the selective treatment of brain cancer.