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Pearce et al. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2018;5:47 Neuroimmunology and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-8659.2018.46 Neuroinflammation

Review Open Access

Immunotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors for gliomas

Clairice M. Pearce , Matthew R. Chrostek , Emily G. Fellows , Nikolas G. Toman , Sarah K. Tran , Andrew
1
1
1#
1
1#
T. Crane , Walter C. Low 1,2,3##
1##
1 Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
2 Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
3 Brain Tumor Program, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
# Authors contributed equally.
## Authors contributed equally.
Correspondence to: Dr. Walter C. Low, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, 2001 6th St SE,
Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. E-mail: lowwalt@umn.edu
How to cite this article: Pearce CM, Chrostek MR, Fellows EG, Toman NG, Tran S, Crane AT, Low WC. Immunotherapy and
checkpoint inhibitors for gliomas. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2018;5:47. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-8659.2018.46
Received: 2 Aug 2018 First Decision: 23 Aug 2018 Revised: 21 Sep 2018 Accepted: 11 Oct 2018 Published: 15 Nov 2018

Science Editor: Athanassios P. Kyritsis Copy Editor: Cui Yu Production Editor: Zhong-Yu Guo

Abstract
Glioma treatments are faced with challenges, including the inability to fully eliminate cancer stem cells, the
immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and the blood brain barrier. Although progress has been made with
surgical, radiation, and chemotherapies, prognosis for patients remains poor. Rapidly emerging immunotherapies
may be able to address the challenges that conventional techniques cannot. Immunotherapies manipulate the
patient’s immune system to selectively combat malignancies. Therapies often work to enhance T-cell and natural
killer (NK) cell function, which can both eliminate tumor cells and enhance remission. Vaccines encourage in vivo
development of anti-tumor T-cells and NK cells, while adoptive transfer techniques focus on engineering immune
cells ex vivo before reintroducing them to patients. Vaccine and adoptive transfer therapies have been shown to
induce enhanced immune responses in patients but have not always correlated with improved outcomes, likely
because of the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Checkpoint inhibitors can impair these tumor
immunosuppressive capabilities. Although no one treatment has been able to consistently eliminate gliomas
and maintain remission, combinations of vaccines or adoptive transfer techniques in conjunction with immune
checkpoint inhibitors offers promise.

Keywords: Glioma, immunotherapy, checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, T-cells, dendritic cells

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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