Abstract

Malignant gliomas are associated with poor prognoses despite surgical, radiation and chemotherapy interventions. Since notable side-effects are associated with each of the aforementioned therapies, the future design of glioma immunotherapy clinical trials will need to address immune modulation at multiple levels for efficacious results. The review discusses emerging data that provides novel insights into immune modulation and their possible implications for immunotherapeutic approaches. The next generation of immunotherapy is largely focused on improving immune effector targeting and directing the tumor immune microenvironment to work synergistically with systematic immune activation.

Keywords: Microglia, Antigen presenting cells, Glioblastoma multiforme, Dendritic cell, Regulatory T cell, Central nervous system