title: On glioblastoma and the search for a cure: where do we stand?
abstract: Although brain tumours have been documented and recorded since the nineteenth century, 2016 marked 90 years since Percival Bailey and Harvey Cushing coined the term "glioblastoma multiforme". Since that time, although extensive developments in diagnosis and treatment have been made, relatively little improvement on prognosis has been achieved. The resilience of GBM thus makes treating this tumour one of the biggest challenges currently faced by neuro-oncology. Aggressive and robust development, coupled with difficulties of complete resection, drug delivery and therapeutic resistance to treatment are some of the main issues that this nemesis presents today. Current treatments are far from satisfactory with poor prognosis, and focus on palliative management rather than curative intervention. However, therapeutic research leading to developments in novel treatment stratagems show promise in combating this disease. Here we present a review on GBM, looking at the history and advances which have shaped neurosurgery over the last century that cumulate to the present day management of GBM, while also exploring future perspectives in treatment options that could lead to new treatments on the road to a cure.
authors.affiliation: Louvain Drug Research Institute, Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 73, bte B1 73.12, 1200, Brussels, Belgium. john.bianco@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: John
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5717-5125
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bianco
authors.affiliation: Louvain Drug Research Institute, Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 73, bte B1 73.12, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bastiancich
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate B1.54.10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.|Department of Neurosurgery, CHU UCL Namur, Avenue G. Thérasse 1, 5530, Yvoir, Belgium.
authors.forename: Aleksander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jankovski
authors.affiliation: Louvain Drug Research Institute, Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 73, bte B1 73.12, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.|Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences, Université catholique de Louvain, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: des Rieux
authors.affiliation: Louvain Drug Research Institute, Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 73, bte B1 73.12, 1200, Brussels, Belgium. veronique.preat@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Préat
authors.affiliation: Louvain Drug Research Institute, Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 73, bte B1 73.12, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Danhier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Cancer stem cells; Drug delivery; Glioblastoma multiforme; Therapeutic resistance