Glial progenitor cell recruitment drives aggressive glioma growth: mathematical and experimental modelling.

Currently available glioma treatments remain unsuccessful at prolonging disease-free remission. Recent evidence suggests that tumour recruitment of glial progenitor cells by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) may play a role in the development and progression of these tumours. Building upon our recent experimental results and previous proliferation-invasion (PI) reaction-diffusion model, in this study, we created a proliferation-invasion-recruitment (PIR) model that includes a mechanism for progenitor cell recruitment, wherein paracrine PDGF signalling stimulates migration and proliferation of progenitors derived from the local brain environment.

Convection-enhanced delivery of topotecan into a PDGF-driven model of glioblastoma prolongs survival and ablates both tumor-initiating cells and recruited glial progenitors.

The contribution of microenvironment to tumor growth has important implications for optimizing chemotherapeutic response and understanding the biology of recurrent tumors. In this study, we tested the effects of locally administered topotecan on a rat model of glioblastoma that is induced by intracerebral injection of PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor)-IRES (internal ribosome entry site)-GFP (green fluorescent protein)-expressing retrovirus, treated the tumors by convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of topotecan (136 μmol/L) for 1, 4, or 7 days, and then characterized the effects on both the retrovirus-transformed tumor cells (GFP(+) cells) as well as the uninfected glial progenitor cells (GFP(-) cells) that are recruited to the tumor. Topotecan treatment reduced GFP(+) cells about 10-fold and recruited progenitors by about 80-fold while providing a significant survival advantage that improved with greater treatment duration.

Clinical usefulness and safety of routine intraoperative angiography for patients and personnel.

Objective: The routine use of intraoperative angiography (IA) is still surrounded by controversy. We prospectively performed IAs in consecutive patients undergoing surgery for aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, and dural arteriovenous fistulae. We calculated the percentage of identified residual pathologies, the cases requiring further surgical intervention, and the complication rates associated with the procedure.

Convection-enhanced delivery in the treatment of malignant glioma.

Despite advancements in glioma therapy, median survival remains low because of rapid post-resection recurrence. A regional method of drug delivery to address local invasion may improve clinical outcomes. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a novel therapy that allows distribution of substances throughout the interstitium via positive-pressure infusion.