Bevacizumab-based therapy in relapsed glioblastoma: rationale and clinical experience to date

Abstract

Relapsed glioblastoma (GBM) has an extremely poor prognosis and remains an invariably fatal disease, with a median overall survival of 6–7 months. Despite numerous clinical trials over the past 20–30 years, treatment options for relapsed GBM remain limited. In recent years, significant research efforts have focused on the use of antiangiogenic therapies for the treatment of GBM. Bevacizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that specifically inhibits the proangiogenic VEGF, with well-established clinical efficacy in a number of solid malignancies, which is now under investigation for the treatment of GBM. In this review, we discuss the available data regarding bevacizumab-based therapy in relapsed GBM, highlighting its potential and ongoing challenges in this difficult-to-treat disease.

Keywords::

• angiogenesis
• bevacizumab
• glioblastoma
• irinotecan
• VEGF

Financial & competing interests disclosure

OL Chinot has been a consultant for Roche and received honoraria from MSD and AstraZeneca.

The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Support for third-party writing assistance for this manuscript was ­provided by F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.