The current and future aspects of glioblastoma: Immunotherapy a new hope?

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most perilous and highly malignant in all the types of brain tumor. Regardless of the treatment, the diagnosis of the patients in GBM is very poor. The average survival rate is only 21 months after multimodal combinational therapies, which include chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Due to the intrusive and infiltrative nature of GBM, it requires elective therapy for specific targeting of tumor cells. Tumor vaccine in a form of immunotherapy has potential to address this need. Nanomedicine‐based immunotherapies have clutch the trigger of systemic and specific immune response against tumor cells, which might be the approach to eliminating the unrelieved cancer. In this mechanism, combination of immunomodulators with specific target and appropriate strategic vaccines can stifle tumor anti‐immune defense system and/or increase the capabilities of the body to move up immunity against the tumor. Here, we explore the different types of immunotherapies and vaccines for brain tumor treatment and their clinical trials, which bring the feasibility of the future of personalized vaccine of nanomedicine‐based immunotherapies for the brain tumor. We believe that immunotherapy could result in a significantly more stable reaction in GBM patients.

Pharmacological Strategy for Selective Targeting of Glioblastoma by Redox-active Combination Drug – Comparison With the Chemotherapeutic Standard-of-care Temozolomide

“…Glioblastoma is the most common type of primary brain tumors, malignant and highly aggressive, with a very poor prognosis. The median survival after diagnosis is about 5 months for untreated patients and does not exceed 18-22 months after treatment (1,2). Only 25% of patients with glioblastoma survive more than one year, and only 5% of patients survive more than five years (3).…”

Progress in phase III clinical trials of molecular targeted therapy and immunotherapy for glioblastoma

“…The efficacy of DCVax‐L illustrates the potential of immunotherapy. Furthermore, neoadjuvant therapies, modified drug delivery, researches on new therapeutic targets and combination therapies still have potential in the future [ 113 , 114 ]. An early clinical trial elaborated that neoadjuvant ICIs enhanced intracranial and systemic antitumor immune responses in rGBM, contributing to survival benefits [ 74 ].…”

“…Registered phase III clinical trials of GBM whose results have not been reported are displayed in Table 3 . Other immunotherapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells, monoclonal antibodies targeting other immune checkpoints, and vaccine therapy, have also yielded promising results in clinical trials [ 113 , 114 ].…”

Targeting Glioblastoma via Selective Alteration of Mitochondrial Redox State

“…The rate of occurrence is 5 per 100,000 individuals, leading to 225,000 deaths per year globally [1]. The median survival is approximately 5 months after diagnosis for untreated patients and very rarely exceeds 18-22 months after therapy [1][2][3]. Only 5% of patients survive more than five years [4], and survival rates and mortality statistics for glioblastoma have remained unchanged for decades.…”