Targeted Therapy for Malignancies in the Nervous System

Dear Colleagues,

Central nervous system (CNS) malignancies, a diverse group of neoplasms occurring in the brain, brainstem, spinal cord, or epen-dymal lining of the ventricles, are categorized as the most aggressive and deadly types of cancer. Glioblastoma is the most malignant CNS neoplasm, accounting for more than 60% of all brain tumor cases in adults. Over the past decade, the identification of molecular biomarkers in CNS tumors and the translation of these findings to patient care have been the focus of remarkable efforts globally. With the development of drug therapy, significant progress has been made in the basic research and clinical investigations of brain me-tastases and primary central nervous system lymphoma. However, outside of temozolomide (the first-line drug for glioblastoma treatment), bevacizumab is the only targeted therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for glioblastoma. It is imperative we identify the targetable and actionable driver genomic alterations to expand the list of therapeutic options. Challenges in developing effective targeted molecular therapies include intratumoral heterogeneity, clonal selection, tumor evolution, and ineffective drug delivery due to the blood–brain barrier. This Special Issue aims to highlight the latest advances in targeted therapies in CNS malignancies and calls for original research articles, reviews, and case reports on the identification of druggable targets, targeted drug delivery approaches, novel combination therapies, and drug resistance. We hope the work presented will advance our understanding of the clinical management of CNS malignancies and pave the way toward novel therapeutic strategies for clinical application.

Dr. Tao Li
Dr. Bo Jiang
Dr. Huijie Wei
Dr. Shengping Yu
Topic Editors