Radiotherapy of meningioma: a treatment in need of radiobiological research

Purpose: Meningiomas account for one third of primary intracranial tumors; nevertheless information on meningioma cell lines and in vivo models is scant. Although radiotherapy is one of the most relevant therapeutic options for the treatment of patients with meningioma, radiobiological research to understand tumor response to this treatment is far from being thoroughly figured out. The aim of this report is to provide a comprehensive picture of the current literature on this field, so as to foster research in this regard. Methods: We carried out a review of meningioma radiobiology based on a peer-reviewed PubMed search. Results: Our findings confirm that the main limitation of radiobiological research into meningioma is the paucity of robust in vitro and in vivo models. Alternative approaches to overcome the already identified problems, and to allow better understanding of the entire histopathological spectrum of meningiomas have been explored. Conclusions: A radiobiological perspective of meningioma may help to improve clinical results both in terms of tumor control and healthy tissue sparing. Although we are far from drawing any conclusions, this review can lead researchers to identify some clues for future areas of study.