Glioblastoma: molecular analysis and its clinical implications

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common and most lethal primary brain tumor. Epidemiologic information indicate that its incidence is lower in Hispanic race. Surgery is the only curative strategy and has recently introduced new strategies that increase resection rates. The use of concurrent chemotherapy with radiotherapy improves survival of patients but is associated with toxicity. Improved understanding of molecular biology of GB allows the identification of  predictive biomarkers of response and prognosis as well as therapeutic targets for the development of new therapeutic strategies. Among biomarkers are currently available 1p /19q codeletion, IDH mutation and O6-methylguanine DNAmethyltransferase promoter methylation. The identification therapeutic targets enables the development of new drugs and their evaluation in clinical trials, but none has been prospectively validated in phase III clinical trials.