Brain tumor incidence shows an upward trend in recent years; brain tumors account for 5% of adult tumors, while in children, this figure has increased to 70%. Moreover, 20%–30% of malignant tumors will eventually metastasize into the brain. Both benign and malignant tumors can cause an increase in intracranial pressure and brain tissue compression, leading to central nervous system (CNS) damage which endangers the patients' lives. Despite the many approaches to treating brain tumors and the progress that has been made, only modest gains in survival time of brain tumor patients have been achieved. At present, chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for many cancers, but the special structure of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) limits most chemotherapeutic agents from passing through the BBB and penetrating into tumors in the brain. The BBB microenvironment contains numerous cell types, including endothelial cells, astrocytes, peripheral cells and microglia, and extracellular matrix (ECM). Many chemical components of natural products are reported to regulate the BBB microenvironment near brain tumors and assist in their treatment. This review focuses on the composition and function of the BBB microenvironment under both physiological and pathological conditions, and the current research progress in regulating the BBB microenvironment by natural products to promote the treatment of brain tumors.

Desmoplastic tumors have an abundance of stromal cells and the extracellular matrix which usually result in therapeutic resistance. Current treatment prescriptions for desmoplastic tumors are usually not sufficient to eliminate the malignancy. Recently, through modulating cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) which are the most abundant cell type among all stromal cells, natural products have improved chemotherapies and the delivery of nanomedicines to the tumor cells, showing promising ability to improve treatment effects on desmoplastic tumors. In this review, we discussed the latest advances in inhibiting desmoplastic tumors by modeling CAFs using natural products, highlighting the potential therapeutic abilities of natural products in targeting CAFs for cancer treatment.

Purpose A novel RGD-modified PEGylated lipid-core micelle delivery system was designed to improve the anti-cancer effect of docetaxel on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods The tumor-targeted lipid-core micelles loaded with docetaxel were prepared and characterized. Their morphology, particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, release profiles, and targeting effects were studied. The antitumor effects of the docetaxel-loaded nano-micelles were investigated in a MDA-MB-231 cell model in vitro and a MDA-MB-231 xenograft model in vivo. Results The prepared RGD-modified docetaxel-loaded lipid-core micelles were spherical with a particle size of 16.44±1.35 nm, zeta potential of −19.24±1.24 mV, and an encapsulation efficiency of 96.52±0.43%. The drug delivery system showed sustained release properties and could significantly enhance docetaxel uptake by MDA-MB-231 tumor cells in vitro, which was proved to be a caveolae pathway mediated process requiring ATP, Golgi apparatus, and acid lysosomes. The results of the pharmacokinetic study displayed that the area under the curve of the targeted micelles was 3.2-times higher than that of docetaxel commercial injections. Furthermore, in a MDA-MB-231 tumor-bearing mice model, a higher antitumor efficacy than docetaxel commercial injections was displayed, and the safety experiments showed that the micellar material did not cause major organ damage after intravenous administration in mice. Conclusion The novel RGD-modified PEGylated lipid-core micelle delivery system significantly improved the antitumor effects and reduced the side-effects of docetaxel, providing a promising therapeutics for the treatment of TNBC.

Aim. Patients in the hemodialysis stage are prone to psychological pressure of depression and anxiety and have resistance, which affects the clinical treatment effect. Effective psychological intervention plays a very important role in improving patients’ psychological pressure and patients’ compliance. The aim of this study is to explore the nursing effect of psychological intervention on uremic hemodialysis patients. Methods. There were 126 uremic hemodialysis patients admitted to the hospital from August 2020 to December 2021. The patients were randomly divided into the routine nursing care group ( n = 63 ) and psychological intervention group ( n = 63 ). The routine nursing care group received routine nursing care for uremia hemodialysis patients. The psychological intervention group implemented psychological intervention on uremia hemodialysis patients. The methods of psychological intervention mainly include establishing a good nurse-patient relationship, popularizing hemodialysis knowledge, timely psychological counseling for patients, and organizing patient communication meetings. The treatment compliance, Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) of the two groups were compared before and after nursing. SF-36 scale was used to evaluate the quality of life of patients. The incidence of complications and nursing satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Results. The treatment compliance rate and nursing satisfaction of hemodialysis uremic patients in the psychological intervention group were significantly higher than the routine nursing care group. The SAS and SDS of hemodialysis uremia patients in the psychological intervention group were significantly lower than the routine nursing care group after psychological intervention, and SF-36 scale was significantly higher than the routine nursing group. The main complications of uremic hemodialysis patients are hypotension, hyperkalemia, internal fistula occlusion, and infection. Compared with the routine nursing care group, the incidence of complications in the psychological intervention group was significantly reduced. Conclusion. The implementation of psychological nursing intervention for uremic hemodialysis patients have a very significant effect on reducing the incidence of complications and improving anxiety, depression, treatment compliance, and the quality of life and the nursing satisfaction.