Journal of Cancer Clinical Trials

Adoptive T Cell Therapies for Glioblastoma

Abstract

German G Gomez

Glioblastomas (GB) are the most common primary tumors of the brain. GB is highly invasive and shows a high degree of cellular and genetic heterogeneity. Unfortunately, the biological and genetic properties of GB hinder the ability of conventional therapies to completely eradicate these tumors. To improve patient survival, researchers have devised multiple therapeutic strategies that take advantage of the inherent ability of immune cells to initiate powerful anti-tumor immune responses. Amongst the various forms of immunotherapy for brain tumors, adoptive T cell therapy (ATCT) involves the direct transfer of ex vivo activated and tumor-specific T lymphocytes to tumor patients. One advantage of ATCT is that the transfer of tumor-reactive T cells allows for rapid tumor targeting that minimizes the deployment of tumor immune evasion mechanisms. New technological breakthroughs such as the ability to genetically engineer T cells with T cell receptors and chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) against shared tumor antigens have sparked new interest and enthusiasm for ATCT. Here, the different ATCT approaches that have been developed and tested for GB are discussed.