Angiogenesis in malignant glioma--a target for antitumor therapy?

The prognosis of malignant gliomas is still dismal despite aggressive treatment attempts. Thus, alternative therapy strategies are needed. Malignant gliomas are upon the best vascularized tumors in humans and their proliferation is hallmarked by a distinct proliferative vascular component. Hence it seems to be a logical consequence to apply anti-angiogenic treatment strategies to malignant gliomas. These treatment strategies have shown promising effects in animal models and some experimental clinical studies. This review gives a short introduction into the molecules involved in angiogenesis of malignant gliomas, it provides an overview of the latest experimental developments of glioma angiogenesis inhibition and discusses the results of clinical anti-angiogenic trials in patients with high grade glioma. Additionally the problem of monitoring the treatment success of an anti-angiogenic therapy is addressed.