Chemotherapy for malignant gliomas.
Malignant gliomas are rare but lethal tumors in which the mainstays of therapy remain surgery and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy currently plays a primarily adjuvant role in the management of these patients with, unfortunately, little success in the recurrent disease setting. Barriers to efficacy of standard cytotoxic agents are related to drug-delivery challenges and inherent chemoresistance. Newer agents designed as directed antiglioma therapy are being explored with exciting preliminary results. Bevacizumab and other antiangiogenic drugs are likely to play a key role in the treatment of malignant glioma, as are combinations of molecularly targeted compounds. A greater understanding of cancer biology has afforded an increasing number and variety of oncogenic targets for therapeutic development, providing hope for brain tumor patients with historically poor outcomes.
Kreisl
Teri N
TN
Neuro-Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. kreislt@mail.nih.gov
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005910:Glioma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents