Current and future drug treatments for glioblastomas

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Glioblastomas are the most aggressive of all gliomas and have the worst prognosis, with 5-year survival rates of less than 10%. Temozolomide (TMZ) is a DNA-methylating agent. Now that TMZ is available, the standard treatment is maximal safe resection, followed by treatment with radiation and TMZ. TMZ has also been used for maintenance therapy. Recently, bevacizumab, which is a monoclonal antibody to vascular endothelial growth factor, has been used for the initial treatment of glioblastomas and for the treatment of recurrent glioblastomas. A 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) wafer can also be placed on the surface of the cavity after near-complete tumor resection. These are currently the three drugs that are most often used to treat glioblastomas. In the near future, other therapeutic options such as immunotherapy may be used to treat glioblastomas.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4309-4316
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Medicinal Chemistry
Volume23
Issue number38
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01-11-2016
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Pharmacology
  • Drug Discovery
  • Organic Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Current and future drug treatments for glioblastomas'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this