Large Conductance, Calcium Activated Potassium (BK) Channels as New Therapeutic Target for Glioma

These tumors remain difficult to treat because of the infiltrative growth of the tumor cells, and their resist-ance to standard therapy. Glioblastoma Multiforme (WHO grade IV) is the most aggressive of the gliomas, accounts for nearly 60-70% of malignant gliomas. A common approach for the treatment of GBM involves surgery, radiation therapy, and various chemotherapeu-tic regimens [1,2]. Despite advance standard therapy, including surgical resection followed by radiation and chemotherapy, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor. Even patients who are optimally treated with combined multimodal treatments have a median survival of only 12 months. This is possibly because of the poor drug delivery and the correspondingly lim-ited therapeutic response caused by partly intact blood brain barrier (BBB) and blood-tumor barrier (BTB).