Immunonanosystems to CNS pathologies: State of the art

This chapter deals with an overall view of nanoparticulate systems opportunately engineered with antibodies for the delivery of active substance to the Central Nervous System. Concordantly to this aim, a brief introduction of the rationale undergoing the nanoparticulate approach to the brain targeting has been developed. Nanoparticles, liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles, representing the most widely studied carriers for drug delivery and targeting, have been reviewed in their application to CNS targeting. In particular, antibody-mediated targeting represent one of the best choices in order to engineer and superficially modify the carriers, to finally target the therapeutic goal. Amongst the receptors to be usefully used for translocation into the CNS, the transferrin and insulin receptors seem to be the most selective systems for an active transcytosis of antibody-engineered nanosystems across the the Blood Brain Barrier.