Malignant gliomas are devastating
tumors, frequently killing those diagnosed in little over a year. The profuse infiltration of
glioma cells into healthy tissue surrounding the main
tumor mass is one of the major obstacles limiting the improvement of patient survival. Migration along the abluminal side of blood vessels is one of the salient features of
glioma cell invasion. Invading
glioma cells are attracted to the vascular network, in part by the
neuropeptide bradykinin, where
glioma cells actively modify the gliovascular interface and undergo volumetric alterations to navigate the confined space. Critical to these volume modifications is a proposed hydrodynamic model that involves the flux of
ions in and out of the cell, followed by osmotically obligated water. Ion and
water channels expressed by the
glioma cell are essential in this model of invasion and make opportune therapeutic targets. Lastly, there is growing evidence that vascular-associated
glioma cells are able to control the vascular tone, presumably to free up space for invasion and growth. The unique mechanisms that enable perivascular
glioma invasion may offer critical targets for therapeutic intervention in this devastating disease. Indeed, a
chloride channel-blocking
peptide has already been successfully tested in human clinical trials.