Molecular imaging in the development of a novel treatment paradigm for glioblastoma (GBM): an integrated multidisciplinary commentary

• Molecular imaging (MI) plays a key part in identifying glioblastoma (GBM) therapies against multiple cancer hallmarks.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has potential as a predictive biomarker for antiangiogenics.
• Application of novel positron emission tomography (PET) approaches supports development of GBM-targeted therapies.
• Implementation of MI in gene therapy protocols supports improved clinical outcome.
• GBM cancer stem cell (CSC) targeted drug discovery platforms should comprise sensitive MI approaches.

Current therapeutic strategies against glioblastoma (GBM) have failed to prevent disease progression and recurrence effectively. The part played by molecular imaging (MI) in the development of novel therapies has gained increasing traction in recent years. For the first time, using expertise from an integrated multidisciplinary group of authors, herein we present a comprehensive evaluation of state-of-the-art GBM imaging and explore how advances facilitate the emergence of new treatment options. We propose a novel next-generation treatment paradigm based on the targeting of multiple hallmarks of cancer evolution that will heavily rely on MI.