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Current
and future developments in the use of temozolomide for the treatment of brain
tumours
Stupp R, Gander M, Leyvraz S, Newlands E
Multidisciplinary Oncology Center, University Hospital CHUV,
Lausanne, Switzerland.
Roger.Stupp@chuv.hospvd.ch.
Brain tumours comprise only 2% of all adult cancers, but they are among the most
debilitating malignant diseases.
Temozolomide, an alkylating agent that can be administered orally, has been
approved for the treatment of recurrent malignant glioma on a daily schedule for
5-day cycles.
Continuous administration schedules with a higher dose intensity are being
explored, but an improvement in efficiency remains to be shown.
The benefit from temozolomide given as a single agent in recurrent disease will
be several weeks at best.
This drug is therefore now undergoing clinical testing as neoadjuvant
chemotherapy or with concomitant radiotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed
glioma.
Several phase I trials are investigating the combination of temozolomide with
other agents active against brain tumours.
This review briefly summarises the pharmacological background and clinical
development of temozolomide and focuses on current and future clinical
exploration of this drug for the treatment of brain tumours.
PMID:
11905710 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11905710&dopt=Abstract
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