Combining drugs and radiotherapy: from the bench to the bedside.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose of review

The current standard care of treatment for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is never curative and exclusively involves the use of cytoxics upfront (e.g., radiation and chemotherapy). Current clinical protocols involve the use of single-agent targeted therapies, which inhibit specific pathways. Given the functional redundancies present in human tumors and escape mechanisms, it is highly unlikely that such a monotherapy approach will be successful in the treatment of GBM. Future directions of therapy for GBMs will likely involve the use of therapeutic cocktails, including more than one target specific inhibitors based on tumor escape mechanism, genetic, epigenetic and molecular signatures. This review addresses some of the relevant issues.

Recent findings

Correl

SUBMITTER: Palanichamy K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3209519 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature