Bevacizumab combined with irinotecan for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme—improvement over available therapy?
Sajeel Chowdhary and Eric T Wong*
Correspondence *Brain Tumor Center and Neuro-Oncology Unit, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Email ewong@bidmc.harvard.edu
This article has no abstract so we have provided the first paragraph of the full text.
Classic neuroscience teaching divides the brain into neurons and glia, but it is increasingly clear that the extracellular environment, or stroma, has a pivotal role in neurodevelopment and disease. The importance of stroma as a target of anticancer therapy has come to light in the era of antiangiogenic drugs. In a phase II trial, Vredenburgh et al. tested bevacizumab, a recombinant monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), plus a conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy, irinotecan, to treat recurrent GBM. His group noted an objective response rate of 57% and a 6-month PFS rate of 46%. These results are striking when compared with treatment responses to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies at recurrence, which only have a 6% objective response and a 6-month PFS rate of 15%.1
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