Title:Current and Future Drug Treatments for Glioblastomas
Volume: 23
Issue: 38
Author(s): Shigeo Ohba and Yuichi Hirose
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Antiepileptic drug, BCNU wafer, bevacizumab, glioblastoma, PD-1, radiotherapy, temozolomide.
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.
