The Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most common primary brain tumors. Despite ongoing research efforts, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor as the 5-year survival is less than 10 %. GBM is treated with a multimodal treatment concept (surgery, chemo- and radiotherapy). Unfortunately, it was noticed that the currently applied irradiation quality might even cause a radiation-enhanced invasion, promoting metastasis and thereby lowering the overall survival. Therefore it is important to investigate the mechanisms leading to GBM invasion to overcome this problem and increase patient survival.
This Ph.D. Thesis analyzed the invasion of several established as well as patient-derived primary GBM cell lines after high- and low-LET irradiation. Besides the elucidation of the invasive potential after low-LET irradiation, the study also aimed to find a better radiotherapy treatment option; therefore, the impact of high-LET irradiation on the invasive property of GBM cell lines was analyzed.
In summary, this study provided evidence for low-LET irradiation enhanced invasion of GBM cells in an in-vitro study and proposes high-LET irradiation as an alternative treatment option to prevent radiation-induced invasion. Furthermore signaling pathways like the AKT-, NOTCH1 and TGF-β have been proposed as responsible mechanisms.
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The Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most common primary brain tumors. Despite ongoing research efforts, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor as the 5-year survival is less than 10 %. GBM is treated with a multimodal treatment concept (surgery, chemo- and radiotherapy). Unfortunately, it was noticed that the currently applied irradiation quality might even cause a radiation-enhanced invasion, promoting metastasis and thereby lowering the overall survival. Therefore it is i...
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