Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31601988›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Cancer2020

The blood-brain barrier and blood-tumour barrier in brain tumours and metastases.

Costas D Arvanitis, Gino B Ferraro, Rakesh K Jain

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Cancer, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 996 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
996citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
88.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

996 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,627 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Niches in cancer: from primary tumors to metastatic disease.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2026
    Review
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  14. Assessment of Cavitation From DEFINITY and DEFINITY RT.Ultrasound in medicine & biology · 2026
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936 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Costas D ArvanitisSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. costas.arvanitis@gatech.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7737-1446
Gino B FerraroEdwin L. Steele Laboratories, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1587-4259
Rakesh K JainEdwin L. Steele Laboratories, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. jain@steele.mgh.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7571-3548
Harvard University · USGeorgia Institute of Technology · US

Funding

Dissecting Pediatric Brain Tumor Microenvironment to Improve TreatmentR35CA197743 · NCI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI JAIN, RAKESH K. · 2015 to 2020
$5.7M
Reengineering obesity-induced abnormal microenvironment to improve PDAC treatmentR01CA208205 · NCI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI FUKUMURA, DAI, JAIN, RAKESH K. · 2017 to 2020
$2.2M
Controlled Delivery and Release of Chemotherapy in Brain Tumors with FUSR00EB016971 · NIBIB · GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI ARVANITIS, KONSTANTINOS-COSTAS · 2016 to 2018
$747k
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA208205NCI NIH HHS R35 CA197743NIBIB NIH HHS R00 EB016971
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

For a blood-borne cancer therapeutic agent to be effective, it must cross the blood vessel wall to reach cancer cells in adequate quantities, and it must overcome the resistance conferred by the local microenvironment around cancer cells. The brain microenvironment can thwart the effectiveness of drugs against primary brain tumours as well as brain metastases. In this Review, we highlight the cellular and molecular components of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a specialized neurovascular unit evolved to maintain brain homeostasis. Tumours are known to compromise the integrity of the BBB, resulting in a vasculature known as the blood-tumour barrier (BTB), which is highly heterogeneous and characterized by numerous distinct features, including non-uniform permeability and active efflux of molecules. We discuss the challenges posed by the BBB and BTB for drug delivery, how multiple cell types dictate BBB function and the role of the BTB in disease progression and treatment. Finally, we highlight emerging molecular, cellular and physical strategies to improve drug delivery across the BBB and BTB and discuss their impact on improving conventional as well as emerging treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and engineered T cells. A deeper understanding of the BBB and BTB through the application of single-cell sequencing and imaging techniques, and the development of biomarkers of BBB integrity along with systems biology approaches, should enable new personalized treatment strategies for primary brain malignancies and brain metastases.

Indexed as

Tumor MicroenvironmentAnimalsAntineoplastic AgentsBiological TransportBlood-Brain BarrierBrain NeoplasmsCombined Modality TherapyDrug Delivery SystemsHumansNeoplasm InvasivenessNeoplasm MetastasisPrecision MedicineAntineoplastic Agents

Identifiers

PMID31601988
PMCPMC8246629
OpenAlexW2979984433

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.