Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase in Glioblastoma: Detection/Diagnostic Methods and Therapeutic Options

Title:Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase in Glioblastoma: Detection/Diagnostic Methods and Therapeutic Options

Volume: 13 Issue: 2

Author(s): Theodosis Kalamatianos, Despoina Denekou, George Stranjalis and Evangelia Papadimitriou*

Affiliation:

• Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, GR26504 Patras,Greece

Keywords: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase, cancer, glioblastoma, pleiotrophin, tyrosine kinase, tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Abstract: Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and common brain tumor in adults, currently lacking effective life-prolonging and recurrence-preventing therapy; median survival of GBM patients stands at only 14-16 months. Increasing lines of evidence indicate that Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), a druggable tyrosine kinase receptor over-expressed in GBM, represents a potential therapeutic target in this tumor.

Objective: An overview of the state of the art and the existing recent patents regarding potential exploitation of ALK as a therapeutic target and/or diagnostic/prognostic factor in GBM.

Method: Recent literature and patents focusing on or including ALK pre-clinical and clinical research in GBM have been identified and reviewed, and are discussed according to their potential use.

Results: Numerous recent ALK-related patents were identified. They were reviewed/analyzed in relation to previously published research and categorized based on their potential in GBM: i) diagnosis/ prognosis, ii) drug-based therapeutic targeting of ALK using a single compound or combination schemes and iii) therapeutic ALK targeting by other means, e.g. ALK vaccination.

Conclusion: ALK targeting holds promise as a novel therapeutic approach in GBM, especially in combination schemes allowing multi-target therapy. Such schemes may incorporate detection-guided therapy and utilize next generation inhibitory compounds with improved central nervous system penetration. Moreover, identification of ALK-mediated molecular pathway(s) related to GBM carcinogenesis/ pathology and putative therapy resistance is of high priority and warrants further exploitation.

Cite this article as:

Kalamatianos Theodosis , Denekou Despoina , Stranjalis George and Papadimitriou Evangelia *, Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase in Glioblastoma: Detection/Diagnostic Methods and Therapeutic Options, Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery 2018; 13 (2) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1574892813666180115151554