Current immunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a lethal primary brain tumor. Despite extensive effort in basic, translational, and clinical research, the treatment outcomes for patients with GBM are virtually unchanged over the past 15 years. GBM is one of the most immunologically “cold” tumors, in which cytotoxic T-cell infiltration is minimal, and myeloid infiltration predominates. This is due to the profound immunosuppressive nature of GBM, a tumor microenvironment that is metabolically challenging for immune cells, and the low mutational burden of GBMs. Together, these GBM characteristics contribute to the poor results obtained from immunotherapy. However, as indicated by an ongoing and expanding number of clinical trials, and despite the mostly disappointing results to date, immunotherapy remains a conceptually attractive approach for treating GBM. Checkpoint inhibitors, various vaccination strategies, and CAR T-cell therapy serve as some of the most investigated immunotherapeutic strategies. This review article aims to provide a general overview of the current state of glioblastoma immunotherapy. Information was compiled through a literature search conducted on PubMed and clinical trials between 1961 to 2021.