Immunotherapy of Glioblastoma Multiforme Tumors: From Basic to Clinical Trial Studies

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and deadliest of malignant primary brain tumors in adults and is one of a group of tumors referred to as gliomas. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 23,000 adults were diagnosed with GBM every year in USA, and less than 5% survive 5 years post-diagnosis. ­Thus, novel therapeutic strategies to target and kill GBM cells are desperately needed to increase the efficiency of therapy. Immunotherapy has the potential of inducing the immunity to remove GBM cells that might have spread throughout the central nervous system.
In current review, the latest developments in preclinical immunotherapy for glioma will be discussed, which involve the local delivery of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as Flt3L, Type I IFNs, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-12 using gene therapy carriers and neural stem cells, or the blockade of immune-suppressive mediators, such as TGF beta, FasL and phosphorylated STAT3. New immunotherapeutic strategies have also been evaluated in clinical trials applied in GBM patients, which makes it a promising tool in the future treatments for GBM.