Anti-angiogenic therapy for glioma: Puzzle and hope

Abstract

Glioma is one of the most common primary malignant tumors in the central nervous system and glioblastoma (GBM) is the deadly disease. Excessive angiogenesis and adequate blood supply result in rapid proliferation and invasion in GBM. Therefore, targeting angiogenesis may be an effective way to inhibit glioma progression. Currently, there are two categories in targeting angiogenesis in GBM: vascular endothelial growth factor monoclonal antibody and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Unfortunately, none of these ways yield efficient overall survival improvement in GBM, implying that it is difficult to really block the tumor angiogenesis by blocking a single pathway. Expectantly, there are some clinical trials showing that a combination of antiangiogenesis and immunotherapy may exert synergism on suppressing glioma growth and improving patients prognosis.