Temozolomide demonstrated good single-agent activity, an acceptable safety profile, and documented HQL benefits in patients with recurrent AA.

Gabapentin is effective in improving analgesia in patients with neuropathic cancer pain already treated with opioids.

Purpose: The DNA repair enzyme O 6 -methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) inhibits the killing of tumor cells by alkylating agents, and its loss in cancer cells is associated with hypermethylation of the MGMT CpG island. Thus, methylation of MGMT has been correlated with the clinical response to 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) in primary gliomas. Here, we investigate whether the presence of MGMT methylation in gliomas is also a good predictor of response to another emergent alkylating agent, temozolomide.Experimental Design: Using a methylation-specific PCR approach, we assessed the methylation status of the CpG island of MGMT in 92 glioma patients who received temozolomide as first-line chemotherapy or as treatment for relapses.Results

We have performed a methylation-specific PCR approach to comparatively analyze the MGMT promoter methylation status in 186 glioblastomas (GBM) from patients with classic survival and nine from patients with long-term survival (LTS GBM). The methylation rate in LTS GBM was significantly higher (77.8% vs. 39.2%, P = 0.033) which suggests that MGMT hypermethylation is a frequent hallmark of LTS GBM and contributes to characterize this intriguing GBM subtype.

This regimen has significant activity, as it induces objective responses even in biopsy-only patients, appearing to improve their median survival. A better combination schedule is needed to improve the toxicity profile.