Glioblastoma: Molecular Pathways, Stem Cells and Therapeutic Targets

Cancers

Meena Jhanwar-Uniyal¹  Michael Labagnara²  Marissa Friedman²  Amanda Kwasnicki²  Raj Murali² 

[1]Department of Neurosurgery, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA

关键词: brain tumors;    GBM;    cancer stem cells;    mTOR;    therapies;   

DOI  :  10.3390/cancers7020538

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Glioblastoma (GBM), a WHO-defined Grade IV astrocytoma, is the most common and aggressive CNS malignancy. Despite current treatment modalities, the survival time remains dismal. The main cause of mortality in patients with this disease is reoccurrence of the malignancy, which is attributed to treatment-resistant cancer stem cells within and surrounding the primary tumor. Inclusion of novel therapies, such as immuno- and DNA-based therapy, may provide better means of treating GBM. Furthermore, manipulation of recently discovered non-coding microRNAs, some of which regulate tumor growth through the development and maintenance of GBM stem cells, could provide new prospective therapies. Studies conducted by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) also demonstrate the role of molecular pathways, specifically the activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, in GBM tumorigenesis. Inhibition of the aforementioned pathway may provide a more direct and targeted method to GBM treatment. The combination of these treatment modalities may provide an innovative therapeutic approach for the management of GBM.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.