ABSTRACT
The normal blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an interplay of structural and physiologic factors at the level of the cerebral capillaries. The BBB in pathologic and particularly neoplastic conditions behaves very differently refl ecting the disruption of its structural or regulatory components. An understanding of the complex interactions of the structural and regulatory components of the BBB allows us to target this important physiologic barrier and modify it to the advantage of the clinician to combat diseases and provide more effective therapeutic options to the patient. For example, tumors use BBB disruption due to various mechanisms to their biologic advantage. Understanding
1 Department of Pathology, NYU Langone Medical Center TH-444, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016.
