title: Glioblastoma stem-like cells: at the root of tumor recurrence and a therapeutic target.
abstract: Glioblastoma is the most common and most aggressive primary brain malignancy. The current initial standard of care consists of maximal safe surgical resection followed by radical radiotherapy and adjuvant temozolomide. Despite optimal therapy, median survival is ~15 months from diagnosis in molecularly unselected patients, and <6 months for patients with recurrent disease. Therefore, clinical treatments are currently palliative, not curative. Collectively, current knowledge suggests that the continued tumor growth and recurrence is in part due to the presence of glioma stem-like cells, which display self-renewal and tumorigenic potential. They differ from their more differentiated progeny, as they are more resistant to current treatments. Recurrent disease may be a consequence of the enhancement and/or gain of stem cell-like characteristics during disease progression, together with preferential death of more differentiated tumor cells during treatment, signifying that the cancer stem cell phenotype is a crucial therapeutic target. The limited knowledge of the characteristics of these cells and their response to current clinical treatments warrants intensive investigation with the aim to improve patient survival and/or develop a cure for this disease.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and melanie.jackson@health.wa.gov.au.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and.
authors.forename: Foteini
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hassiotou
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nowak
mesh_terms: D000071916:AC133 Antigen; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D000071916:AC133 Antigen; D015703:Antigens, CD; C497483:CD44 protein, human; D006023:Glycoproteins; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D010455:Peptides; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases