The survival of
cancer patients suffering from
glioblastoma multiforme is limited to just a few months even
after treatment with the most advanced techniques. The indefinable borders of
glioblastoma cell infiltration into the surrounding healthy tissue prevent complete surgical removal. In addition, genetic mutations, epigenetic modifications and microenvironmental heterogeneity cause resistance to radio- and
chemotherapy altogether resulting in a hardly to overcome therapeutic scenario. Therefore, the development of efficient therapeutic strategies to combat these
tumors requires a better knowledge of genetic and proteomic alterations as well as the infiltrative behavior of
glioblastoma cells and how this can be targeted. Among many
cell surface receptors, members of the
integrin family are known to regulate
glioblastoma cell invasion in concert with extracellular matrix degrading
proteases. While preclinical and early clinical trials suggested specific
integrin targeting as a promising therapeutic approach, clinical trials failed to deliver improved cure rates up to now. Little is known about
glioblastoma cell motility, but switches in invasion modes and adaption to specific microenvironmental cues as a consequence of treatment may maintain
tumor cell resistance to
therapy. Thus, understanding the molecular basis of
integrin and
protease function for
glioblastoma cell invasion in the context of
radiochemotherapy is a pressing issue and may be beneficial for the design of efficient therapeutic approaches. This review article summarizes the latest findings on
integrins and extracellular matrix in
glioblastoma and adds some perspective thoughts on how this knowledge might be exploited for optimized multimodal
therapy approaches.