title: Erlotinib in glioblastoma: lost in translation?
abstract: Glioblastoma represents the most common primary brain tumor in adults. Despite improvements of multimodal therapy, the prognosis of this disease remains unfavorable. Thus, great efforts have been made to identify therapeutic agents directed against those specific molecular targets whose presence was shown to be associated with worse clinical outcomes. The epidermal growth factor receptor (HER1/EGFR) has been identified as one such target, and different compounds were developed to inhibit HER1/EGFR and/ or its mutant form, EGFRvIII. However, clinical trials did not confirm the initial enthusiasm conveyed by promising results from experimental studies. Therefore, a therapeutic approach directed at inhibiting solely HER1/EGFR does not seem to translate into a clinical benefit. This review discusses the current therapeutic situation in the setting of glioblastoma while putting the spotlight on erlotinib, a HER1/EGFR-targeted small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karpel-Massler
authors.forename: M Andrew
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Westhoff
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Kast
authors.forename: Christian Rainer
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Wirtz
authors.forename: Marc-Eric
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Halatsch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000639:trends; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D000069347:Erlotinib Hydrochloride; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011799:Quinazolines / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011799:Quinazolines; D000069347:Erlotinib Hydrochloride; D066246:ErbB Receptors