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The Effect of Molecular Diagnostics on the Treatment of Glioma

  • Neuro-oncology (S Nagpal, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

This review summarizes the use of molecular diagnostics in glioma and its effect on the development of novel therapeutics and management decisions.

Recent Findings

Genomic and proteomic profiling of brain tumors has provided significant expansion of our understanding of oncogenesis, characterization, and prognostication of brain tumors. Molecular markers such as MGMT, EGFR, IDH, 1p19q, ATRX, TERT, FGFR-TACC, and BRAF are now being used to classify brain tumors as well as influence management decisions. Several of these markers are also being used as therapeutic targets.

Summary

We review the use of several molecular diagnostics in gliomas and discuss their impact on drug development and clinical trial design. In the future, molecular characterization based on a specific genomic, proteomic as well as transcriptomes for bioformatics analysis will provide clinicians the ability to rationally select drugs with actionable targets for each patient.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, 400 Parnassus Ave, A808, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Nancy Ann Oberheim Bush & Nicholas Butowski

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  1. Nancy Ann Oberheim Bush
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  2. Nicholas Butowski
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Correspondence to Nicholas Butowski.

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Nancy Ann Oberheim Bush and Nicholas Butowski declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Neuro-oncology

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Bush, N.A.O., Butowski, N. The Effect of Molecular Diagnostics on the Treatment of Glioma. Curr Oncol Rep 19, 26 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-017-0585-6

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