The role of celecoxib in glioblastoma treatment: a review of literature

Abstract

Objective: Glioblastoma (GB) is the most aggressive and lethal type of brain tumor. Despite the standard treatments and improvements, the overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) are not optimal. Celecoxib (CEL) has been considered as one of the adjuvant agents in patients with GB due to its different mechanisms in recent years. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed in EMBASE, MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Cochrane Central Register of the Controlled Trials databases to get access to the trials that investigated the potential benefits of CEL in the treatment regimen of patients with GB. Results: From 77 studies, twelve clinical trials with 690 patients from 2004 to 2015 were included. The trials were often in phase II and temozolamide was the main agent of the treatment regimen. CEL was administered mostly at high dose of 400 mg twice daily and it was well tolerated. CEL has shown some promising effects but only in studies which patients were not eligible for standard treatment due to their age or clinical conditions. Conclusions: CEL administration in tested doses is safe and practical for GBM patients. It could be considered as one of the choices in the therapeutic protocol of GB along with the main drugs commonly used in chemotherapy regimen especially in the elderly patients who are not eligible for standard treatment.

Keywords

• cel (celecoxib)
• gb (glioblastoma)
• brain tumor
• cox-2 inhibitor
• celebrex
• glioblastoma multiforme
• gbm
• grade iv astrocytoma