Institutional experience with chloroquine as an adjuvant to the therapy for glioblastoma multiforme

BackgroundResults of the current therapy for GBM are dismal; the mean survival time of patients is approximately 1 year—and it has been so for several decades. In preliminary studies, we have observed a potentiating therapeutic effect when chloroquine was added to the conventional treatment of GBM.MethodsOver the last 5 years, 41 patients with GBM received chloroquine as an optional adjuvant administered concurrently with conventional surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. These patients did not participate in our previous studies on chloroquine administration and were studied retrospectively; 82 contemporary patients with GBM who did not receive chloroquine were included in this analysis as control subjects. The end point observed was time of survival after surgery.ResultsSurvival time in patients treated with chloroquine was 25 ± 3.4 months, as compared with that of 11.4 ± 1.3 months in control subjects (P = .000; OR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.26-0.6); the difference remained significant after regression analysis for possible clinical confounders.ConclusionsIn agreement with our recent reports, chloroquine exerts a strong adjuvant effect when added to the conventional treatment of GBM. In this large cohort of unselected patients with GBM who were treated with chloroquine, the median survival time doubled as compared with that of control subjects.