Current and Future Drug Treatments for Glioblastomas

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.