Exploitation of adaptive evolution in glioma treatment.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a malignant neoplasm of the CNS with almost uniform lethality. Even with standard-of-care treatments, the prognosis for patients remains dismal. GBM, as with other malignancies, often acquires treatment resistance after an initial response to therapy. Treatment resistance may come about through the adaptive evolution of tumors in response to selection pressures from treatment interventions and the microenvironment. This review discusses how adaptive evolution might potentially be exploited as a new paradigm in GBM treatment.