Open AccessMedulloblastoma development: tumor biology informs treatment decisions
Author(s) -
Vidya Gopalakrishnan,
Rong Tao,
Tara Dobson,
William Brugmann,
Soumen Khatua
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cns oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.866
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 2045-0915
pISSN - 2045-0907
DOI - 10.2217/cns.14.58
Subject(s) - medulloblastoma , neurocognitive , medicine , radiation therapy , oncology , modalities , treatment modality , brain tumor , intensive care medicine , bioinformatics , cancer research , pathology , cognition , biology , psychiatry , social science , sociology
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. Current treatments including surgery, craniospinal radiation and high-dose chemotherapy have led to improvement in survival. However, the risk for recurrence as well as significant long-term neurocognitive and endocrine sequelae associated with current treatment modalities underscore the urgent need for novel tumor-specific, normal brain-sparing therapies. It has also provided the impetus for research focused on providing a better understanding of medulloblastoma biology. The expectation is that such studies will lead to the identification of new therapeutic targets and eventually to an increase in personalized treatment approaches.