Neoplasms of glial cells, especially astrocytes, comprise 40-50% of the tumors that arise in the central nervous system. The most aggressive and deadly of these neoplasms is glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Despite rapidly increasing knowledge of the gliomagenic lesions that underlie these tumor phenotypes and decades of technological advances in neurosurgery, radiation therapy and clinical trials of conventional and novel therapies, little improvement in the median survival of 12-15 months has been achieved for GBM patients. Therefore, it is essential and urgent that we improve our current knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of GBM initiation, progression and resistance to therapy. This special issue will focus on new advances in the molecular and cellular aspects of the pathophysiology of GBM and novel therapeutic approaches to eradicate this deadly brain cancer.
Glioblastomas are considered to be one of the most radio resistant tumors. Despite new therapies, the prognosis of this disease remains dismal. Also, the mechanisms of radiation resistance in mammalian cells are more complex than once believed. Experimental studies have indicated that some [...] Read more.
This study aimed to analyze the treatment and outcomes of older glioblastoma patients. Forty-four patients older than 70 years of age were referred to the Paul Strauss Center for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The median age was 75.5 years old (range: 70–84), and the [...] Read more.
Brain cancer research has been hampered by a paucity of viable clinical tissue of sufficient quality and quantity for experimental research. This has driven researchers to rely heavily on long term cultured cells which no longer represent the cancers from which they were [...] Read more.
The current standard of care for glioblastoma (GBM) is maximal surgical resection with adjuvant radiotherapy and temozolomide (TMZ). As the 5-year survival with GBM remains at a dismal <10%, novel therapies are needed. Immunotherapies such as the dendritic cell (DC) vaccine, heat shock [...] Read more.
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most lethal and aggressive type of primary brain malignancy. Failures of the traditional therapies in treating GBMs raise the urgent requirement to develop new approaches with more responsive targets. The phenomenon of the high infiltration of tumor-associated macrophages [...] Read more.
Heterogeneity is a hallmark of tumors and has a crucial role in the outcome of the malignancy, because it not only confounds diagnosis, but also challenges the design of effective therapies. There are two types of heterogeneity: inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity. While inter-tumor [...] Read more.
Constitutively activated oncogenic signaling via genetic mutations such as in the EGFR/PI3K/Akt and Ras/RAF/MEK pathways has been recognized as a major driver for tumorigenesis in most cancers. Recent insights into tumor metabolism have further revealed that oncogenic signaling pathways directly promote metabolic reprogramming [...] Read more.
Open AccessReview Bevacizumab for Glioblastoma—A Promising Drug or Not?
Two double blind, placebo-controlled, and randomized phase III studies were conducted, and the results including OS’s were reported at the ASCO Meeting in June 2013, which was the beginning of confusion surrounding this topic. This is a review article not only summarizing the [...] Read more.
Cancer immunotherapy has made tremendous progress, including promising results in patients with malignant gliomas. Nonetheless, the immunological microenvironment of the brain and tumors arising therein is still believed to be suboptimal for sufficient antitumor immune responses for a variety of reasons, including the [...] Read more.
Glioma represents a serious health problem worldwide. Despite advances in surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeting therapy, the disease remains one of the most lethal malignancies in humans, and new approaches to improvement of the efficacy of anti-glioma treatments are urgently needed. Thus, new [...] Read more.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive form of brain cancer, with a dismal prognosis and extremely low percentage of survivors. Novel therapies are in dire need to improve the clinical management of these tumors and extend patient survival. Genetic therapies for GBM have [...] Read more.
Open AccessReview Is Glioblastoma an Epigenetic Malignancy?
Epigenetic modifications control gene expression by regulating the access of nuclear proteins to their target DNA and have been implicated in both normal cell differentiation and oncogenic transformation. Epigenetic abnormalities can occur both as a cause and as a consequence of cancer. Oncogenic [...] Read more.
Glioblastoma, the most common primary brain tumor, has few available therapies providing significant improvement in survival. Molecular signatures associated with tumor aggressiveness as well as with disease progression and their relation to differences in signaling pathways implicated in gliomagenesis have recently been described. [...] Read more.
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM, WHO grade IV) is the most common and lethal subtype of primary brain tumor with a median overall survival of 15 months from the time of diagnosis. The presence in GBM of a cancer population displaying neural stem cell (NSC) [...] Read more.
Open AccessReview Formulations for Intranasal Delivery of Pharmacological Agents to Combat Brain Disease: A New Opportunity to Tackle GBM?
Despite recent advances in tumor imaging and chemoradiotherapy, the median overall survival of patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme does not exceed 15 months. Infiltration of glioma cells into the brain parenchyma, and the blood-brain barrier are important hurdles to further increase the efficacy [...] Read more.