Relationship Between Molecular Oncology and Radiotherapy in Malignant Gliomas (An Overview)

Radiotherapy is currently in the midst ofnew developments both in technology and radiobiology.Recent papers have greatly enriched the currentknowledge of radiation oncology, especiallyradiobiology and molecular oncology, and this haschanged the oncology practice in radiation therapy injust a few years. The long-term objective of the translationalresearch program in radiation oncology, alsofor central nervous system tumors such as glioblastomamultiforme (GBM), is to improve the therapeuticwindow, minimizing the damage to normal tissue andincreasing the efficacy of radiation in eradicating cancer.The correct determination of the single patientprofile as well as single tumor behaviour, with multidisciplinaryapproach is one of the next challengesin radiation oncology. This conceptual revolution willderive from the stronger correlations between newradiobiological data and experimental results in molecularoncology that are increasingly becoming availableand ready to be translated into clinical practice. Someof the most interesting issues regarding relationshipsbetween molecular oncology and radiotherapy are:the availability of new, more effective drugs to prescribein conjunction with radiation, the possibility toreduce intrinsic radioresistance or, on the contrary, toenhance radiosensitivity with innovative molecular targetedagents, the increasing potential application ofcancer stem cells with radiotherapy, the impact of newmolecular tracers for functional imaging of brain inradiotherapy treatment planning and in response evaluation.These issues are analysed and discussed in the present overview in regard to the recent literature onthe topic.