Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Mar 7;13(3):659.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines13030659.

Meningioma: Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches

Carlen A Yuen  1   2 , Michelle Zheng  3 , Max A Saint-Germain  4 , David O Kamson  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Meningioma: Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches

Carlen A Yuen et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Meningiomas are the most common intracranial tumors. Surgery and radiation therapy are the cornerstones of treatment and no standard of care therapy exists for refractory meningiomas. This manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive review of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches against these tumors. Methods: A search for the existing literature on systemic therapies for meningiomas was performed on PubMed and a search for presently accruing clinical trials was performed on ClinicalTrials.gov. Results: Systemic treatments, including chemotherapy, somatostatin analogs, anti-hormone therapy, and anti-angiogenic therapy, have been extensively studied with marginal success. Targeted therapies are actively being studied for the treatment of meningiomas, including focal adhesion kinase (FAK), sonic hedgehog signaling pathway, phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K), and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) inhibitors. These driver mutations are present only in a subset of meningiomas. In stark contrast, somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) is ubiquitously expressed in meningiomas and was formerly targeted with somatostatin analogs with modest success. Theranostic SSTR2-targeting via [68Ga]DOTATATE for PET imaging and β-emitting [177Lu]DOTATATE for the treatment of meningiomas are currently under active investigation. Conclusions: A nuanced approach is needed for the treatment of refractory meningiomas. Targeted therapies show promise.

Keywords: 177-Lutetium; AKT; DOTATATE PET; NF2; PRRT; SMO; abemaciclib; capivasertib; meningioma; octreotide; vismodegib.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Novel small-molecule targeted therapies for the treatment of meningiomas.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Price M., Ballard C., Benedetti J., Neff C., Cioffi G., Waite K.A., Kruchko C., Barnholtz-Sloan J.S., Ostrom Q.T. CBTRUS Statistical Report: Primary Brain and Other Central Nervous System Tumors Diagnosed in the United States in 2017–2021. Neuro-Oncology. 2024;26:vi1–vi85. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noae145. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lin D.D., Lin J.L., Deng X.Y., Li W., Li D.D., Yin B., Lin J., Zhang N., Sheng H.S. Trends in intracranial meningioma incidence in the United States, 2004–2015. Cancer Med. 2019;8:6458–6467. doi: 10.1002/cam4.2516. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Walsh K.M., Price M., Neff C., Komisarow J.M., Wimberly C.E., Kruchko C., Barnholtz-Sloan J.S., Ostrom Q.T. The joint impacts of sex and race/ethnicity on incidence of grade 1 versus grades 2-3 meningioma across the lifespan. Neuro-Oncol. Adv. 2023;5:i5–i12. doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdad020. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berghaus N., Hielscher T., Savran D., Schrimpf D., Maas S.L.N., Preusser M., Weller M., Acker T., Herold-Mende C., Wick W., et al. Meningiomas: Sex-Specific Differences and Prognostic Implications of a Chromosome X Loss. Neuro Oncol. 2024;27:noae239. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noae239. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boetto J., Plu I., Ducos Y., Blouin A., Teranishi Y., Brainbank Neuro C.E.B.N.N., Bizzotto S., Kalamarides M., Peyre M. Normal meninges harbor oncogenic somatic mutations in meningioma-driver genes. Acta Neuropathol. 2023;146:833–835. doi: 10.1007/s00401-023-02635-4. - DOI - PubMed