Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and lethal brain cancer. The lack of early detection methods, the presence of rapidly growing tumor cells, and the high levels of recurrence due to chemo- and radioresistance make this cancer an extremely difficult disease to treat. Emerging studies have focused on inhibiting AKT activation; here, we demonstrate that in primary GBM tumor samples, full-dose inhibition of AKT activity leads to differential responses among samples in the context of cell death and self-renewal, reinforcing the notion that GBM is a heterogeneous disease. In contrast, low-dose AKT inhibition when combined with fractionation of radiation doses leads to a significant apoptosis-mediated cell death of primary patient-derived GBM cells. Therefore, low-dose-targeted therapies might be better for radiosensitization of primary GBM cells and further allow for reducing the clinical toxicities often associated with targeting the AKT/PI3K/mTOR pathway. This work emphasizes the discrepancies between cell lines and primary tumors in drug testing, and indicates that there are salient differences between patients, highlighting the need for personalized medicine in treating high-grade glioma.
©2015 American Association for Cancer Research.