Update on neurooncology Annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2013

At this yearʼs American society of clinical oncology (ASCO) meeting (2013) a number of recently completed randomized Phase II and III trials regarding the treatment of high- and low-grade glioma were reported. The RTOG 0825 trial and the AVAglio trial, both double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase III trials, addressed the benefits of bevacizumab in newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) alongside to the standard of care (SOC). In the randomized Phase II GLARIUS trial, bevacizumab and irinotecan was compared to the SOC in GBM with a nonmethylated O6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter. In the recurrent setting results from the Dutch BELOB randomized three arm phase II trial were presented: Bevacizumab alone vs. lomustine alone vs. the combination in recurrent GBM. The CENTRIC trial tested the integrin inhibitor cilengitide in newly diagnosed and MGMT promoter methylated GBM. Two trials on low-grade glioma (LGG) were presented: the single arm RTOG 0424 phase II trial for LGG with at least three risk factors and first results from the randomized phase III EORTC 22033-26033 trial, including LGG patients with one or more risk factors treated either with irradiation alone or temozolomide alone. Translational research results of these trials will be expected at a later point of time.