Facing the future of brain tumor clinical research.
This edition of CCR Focus provides critical reviews of several important areas in the field, including the application of findings from genomic investigations of brain tumors to improve diagnosis, clinical trial design, and ultimately optimizing individual patient treatment. Another article is a critical review provided by experts in the field that discusses the recent clinical trials using angiogenesis inhibitors, possible explanations for the results, and how to move forward. There is a concise discussion of the application of immunotherapy to brain tumors by key investigators in this field, reflecting the potential opportunities as well as the disease-specific challenges. Finally, leading pediatric brain tumor investigators provide an overview of the field and insights about the recent seminal discoveries in two pediatric brain tumors, supporting the paradigm that laboratory investigations lead to more precise diagnosis, prognosis, and ultimately better treatment. Herein, an overview of the recent advances and challenges in the area of clinical and translational brain tumor research is provided to set the stage for the contributions that follow.
Department of Neuro-Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. mrgilbert@mdanderson.org.
Mark R
MR
Gilbert
University of Texas Health Science Center School of Nursing and Department of Neuro-Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Terri S
TS
Armstrong
Department of Radiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.
Whitney B
WB
Pope
Erasmus MC-Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Martin J
MJ
van den Bent
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
Patrick Y
PY
Wen
D000367:Age Factors; D035843:Biomedical Research; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012107:Research Design; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical