UCLA researchers develop a new combination therapy to activate the immune response against glioblastoma

UCLA researchers develop a new combination therapy to activate the immune response against glioblastoma -

UCLA researchers have developed a revolutionary new combination treatment that uses a vaccine to activate a response immune against advanced brain tumors. The therapy uses an antibody blockade to prevent cancer of the brain to protect the patient's own immune cells so they can recognize the brain tumor and attack it.

The diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is associated with an extremely poor prognosis in most people with the disease. median survival is estimated that follows traditional treatments, such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, is generally 14 to 18 months.

The new results are published online in the journal JCI Insight.

The new three-year study led by Drs. Robert Prins, Linda Liau and Timothy Cloughesy, all members of UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, showed for the first time a vaccine to dendritic cell, in combination with the antibody blockage of a cell surface receptor immune known as PD-1 of the name, produces a more effective response immune response against GBM beyond the use of either treatment alone.

"These results are the first to accurately describe the mechanism by which an effective immune response can be seen in tumors in the brain," said Prins, an associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at UCLA . "We found that the effective anti-tumor immunity for glioblastoma must have a significant infiltration of killer T cells and blockaded major checkpoint axes that make these killer T dysfunctional cells within the tumor."

Prins and his team added that the combined treatment is effective to remind the immune system that the WBG is a foreign invader, which essentially prevents brain cancer to recur or more.

administration PD1 / PD-L1 antibody blockade alone may not be successful in glioblastomas that do not have a significant infiltration of T cell vaccination of dendritic cells allows the infiltration of cells in brain tumors T, while the PD-1 (mAb) antibody blockade removes the shield of active tumor to hide from the immune system.

The methodology differs from previous research in metastatic melanoma cancer and non-small cell lung cancer because it shows that activation of an immune response using vaccination of dendritic cells may be necessary in tumors that do not respond to / PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors only one PD.

the next step of the research is to understand how the signaling mechanism of the PD-1 pathway / PDL1 integrated into other potential means of immune suppression are currently being investigated.