New biochemical approaches for the treatment of glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is a relatively common form of brain tumor for which at present there is no efficient surgical or pharmaceutical treatment. Even with the standard of care consisting of surgery, radiotherapy, plus temozolomide treatment, the median survival time is around 12 months. Recently, several new chemotherapeutic approaches have been developed that target DNA or the circadian clock for treating glioblastoma. Here, after briefly reviewing the standard of care, temozolomide, we summarize the mechanistic bases of these new approaches and their potential for improving treatment of glioblastoma and other brain tumors.