Translational Medicine

Biography

Biography: Xiang Zhang

Abstract

Malignant Glioma (MG) is the most common and extremely fatal type of primary intracranial tumor. The fundamental problem with this tumor occurs primarily due to neoplasm cells’ highly infiltrative nature and involves critical areas of the brain, making it almost impossible to get a complete surgical resection, and an intrinsic or acquired resistance to radio-or chemo-therapy. Recent studies demonstrated that tumor recurred within 2 to 3 cm of the original site of tumor resection in the majority of cases. Furthermore, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) profoundly limited the access of many systemically administered chemotherapeutics to the tumor. Standard treatment for patients with MG usually entails surgery followed by radiotherapy plus chemotherapy. Despite remarkable advances in current therapies including molecular and cellular biology, these patients still face a poor prognosis, pointing towards a stringent need for new therapeutic patterns. Therefore, targeting therapy using local drug delivery for MG becomes a priority for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. The main objectives to the effective use of chemotherapy for MG include the drug delivery to the tumor region and the infusion of chemotherapeutic agents into the vascular supply of a tumor directly, which could improve the pharmacokinetic profile by enhancing drug delivery to the neoplasm tissue. Herein, we reviewed critically the existing and promising targeting therapies using local drug delivery for MG which could effectively inhibit tumor invasion, proliferation and recurrence of MG to combat the deadly disease. Undoubtedly, novel chemical medicines targeting these MG may represent one of the most important directions in the Neuro-oncology