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Abstract
Modest improvement in brain tumor patient survival has been achieved through advances in surgical, adjuvant radiation and chemotherapeutic strategies. However, these traditional approaches have been unsuccessful in permanently controlling these aggressive tumors, with recurrence being quite common. Hence, there is a need for novel therapeutic approaches that specifically target the molecularly diverse brain tumor cell population. The ability of the immune system to recognize altered tumor cells while avoiding surrounding normal cells offers an enormous advantage over the nonspecific nature of the conventional treatment schemes. Therefore, immunotherapy represents a promising approach that may supplement the standard therapies in eliminating the residual brain tumor cells. This review summarizes different immunotherapeutic approaches currently being tested for malignant brain tumor treatment.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The present study was funded in part by the following NIH grants: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant 5P50 NS20023-25 and National Cancer Institute Merit Award R37 CA 011898-38 (DD Bigner). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank L Albritton for editorial review of the manuscript.