Glioblastoma Treatments: An Account of Recent Industrial Developments

Abstract

The different drugs and medical devices, which are commercialized or under industrial development for glioblastoma treatment, are reviewed. Their different modes of action are analyzed with a distinction being made between the effects of radiation, the targeting of specific parts of glioma cells, and immunotherapy. Most of them are still at a too early stage of development to firmly conclude about their efficacy. Optune, which triggers antitumor activity by blocking the mitosis of glioma cells under the application of an alternating electric field, seems to be the only recently developed therapy with some efficacy reported on a large number of GBM patients. The need for early GBM diagnosis is emphasized since it could enable the treatment of GBM tumors of small sizes, possibly easier to eradicate than larger tumors. Ways to improve clinical protocols by strengthening preclinical studies using of a broader range of different animal and tumor models are also underlined. Issues related with efficient drug delivery and crossing of blood brain barrier are discussed. Finally societal and economic aspects are described with a presentation of the orphan drug status that can accelerate the development of GBM therapies, patents protecting various GBM treatments, the different actors tackling GBM disease, the cost of GBM treatments, GBM market figures, and a financial analysis of the different companies involved in the development of GBM therapies.

The role of vascular endothelial growth factor in the hypoxic and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment: perspectives for therapeutic implications

“…Glioblastomas (GBs) are the most aggressive and vascularized primary brain tumors [2]. Despite multimodal therapy including surgical removal, radiation, and chemotherapy, GBs are essentially incurable [3,4]. The heterogeneity, infiltrative characteristics, presence of glioma stem cells, and function of blood-brain barrier have been appointed as the main causes of therapeutic resistance and malignant relapse [3,4].…”

“…Despite multimodal therapy including surgical removal, radiation, and chemotherapy, GBs are essentially incurable [3,4]. The heterogeneity, infiltrative characteristics, presence of glioma stem cells, and function of blood-brain barrier have been appointed as the main causes of therapeutic resistance and malignant relapse [3,4]. Furthermore, the lack of anti-tumor immune response due to an immunosuppressive TME also contributes to the treatment failure.…”

Sensory changes and lipoprotein ratios in patients with brain cancers during cancer‐related therapy: A prospective cross‐sectional study

“…Several studies on cancer patients have been performed to determine the specific tumor markers, suitable treatment, and medication guidelines (Alphandéry, ; Davis, ). These efforts have been made to develop advanced treatments that can effectively treat cancer.…”

Nano-Therapies for Glioblastoma Treatment

“…Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and difficult to treat cancers. It is characterized by a life expectancy following diagnosis of only 12-18 months [1]. Standard treatments are ineffective for a number of reasons, such as the incapacity of surgery to remove all glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumor cells, notably the infiltrative ones, the difficulty for chemo-therapeutic drugs to reach the tumor, due to the blood brain barrier (BBB) that prevents them from diffusing towards the tumor, and the limitations of radiotherapy, which cannot easily eradicate radio-resistant GBM cells, notably stem cell ones.…”

“…A final consideration concerns apoptosis, a mechanism of cellular death that could be weakened among GBM tumor cells, possibly making these cells resistant to standard treatments [123]. With the help of nanoparticulate systems, it has been shown that apoptosis could be restored, for example by heating magnetic nanoparticles in the presence of GBM cancer cells under the application of an alternating magnetic field at mild temperatures of 40-50 • C [1,16,42].…”