BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Blocking brain tumor rebound

March 11, 2010 8:00 AM UTC

California researchers have uncovered a key role for the interaction of CXCR4 and SDF-1 in the recurrence of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), handing Genzyme Corp. a potential new indication for its CXCR4 inhibitor, Mozobil plerixafor.1

In most GBM patients, tumors recur within two years after a course of treatment that includes radiation and may incorporate an angiogenesis inhibitor. Radiation kills the tumor endothelial cells capable of angiogenesis. But most GBM tumors recur at the irradiated site, and the mechanisms of neovascularization that enable tumor regrowth have not been well understood...