Current Options and Future Directions in Immune Therapy for Glioblastoma

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: John Lynes, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Victoria Sanchez, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Gifty Dominah, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Anthony Nwankwo, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Edjah Nduom, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-12-05
• Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2018 Lynes, Sanchez, Dominah, Nwankwo and Nduom.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2018.00578
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: FRONTIERS IN ONCOLOGY
• Volume: 8
• Issue: DEC
• Start Page: 578
• End Page: 578
• Keywords: SUPPRESSOR-CELLS; LIGAND 1 EXPRESSION; cell therapy; PHASE-II TRIAL; checkpoint; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; immunotherapy; GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTOR; REGULATORY T-CELLS; virus; PD-L1 EXPRESSION; sequencing; CONVECTION-ENHANCED DELIVERY; TUMOR-INFILTRATING LYMPHOCYTES; DENDRITIC CELLS; Oncology; glioblastoma; vaccination; NEWLY-DIAGNOSED GLIOBLASTOMA; Science & Technology
• Research Categories: Biology, Cell; Health Sciences, Immunology; Biology, Virology

Abstract

Glioblastoma is in need of innovative treatment approaches. Immune therapy for cancer refers to the use of the body's immune system to target malignant cells in the body. Such immune therapeutics have recently been very successful in treating a diverse group of cancerous lesions. As a result, many new immune therapies have gained Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of cancer, and there has been an explosion in the study of immune therapeutics for cancer treatment over the past few years. However, the immune suppression of glioblastoma and the unique immune microenvironment of the brain make immune therapeutics more challenging to apply to the brain than to other systemic cancers. Here, we discuss the existing barriers to successful immune therapy for glioblastoma and the ongoing development of immune therapeutics. We will discuss the discovery and classification of immune suppressive factors in the glioblastoma microenvironment; the development of vaccine-based therapies; the use of convection-enhanced delivery to introduce tumoricidal viruses into the tumor microenvironment, leading to secondary immune responses; the emerging use of adoptive cell therapy in the treatment of glioblastoma; and future frontiers, such as the use of cerebral microdialysis for immune monitoring and the use of sequencing to develop patient-specific therapeutics. Armed with a better understanding of the challenges inherent in immune therapy for glioblastoma, we may soon see more successes in immune-based clinical trials for this deadly disease.