Therapy for cancers of the CNS remains inadequate. Approximately 15,000 new cases of malignant glioma, the most common tumor of the CNS, are diagnosed annually in the USA l. The prognosis for these patients is extremely grim; with a median survival of 10-12 months, nearly all patients die from their disease within 2 years . No curative treatment exists and disease prognosis has remained essentially unchanged over the past 50 years. Traditional therapies of maximal surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiation are only marginally effective in extending progression-free survival and improving quality of life. At present, malignant gliomas annually claim some 12,000 human lives. Thus, investigation of novel treatment modalities is urgently needed.
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