Novel Immunotherapy Strategies for Brain Tumors

© 2024 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor, responsible for a poor prognosis and treatment perspective. Despite advancements in investigating novel therapeutic approaches for brain tumor and glioblastoma, there is less progress in improving patients’ survival outcomes. Several hurdles hinder effective treatment, including the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), the blood-brain barrier, and extensive heterogeneity. Despite these challenges, immunotherapies are promising and effective therapeutic breakthroughs for the therapy of brain tumor types such as gliomas. Multiple new techniques are being explored including chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, oncolytic virus, cytokine-based treatment, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and vaccine-based techniques. Finally, the present review paper aims to summarize the existing developments of microglia, neutrophils, monocyte-derived macrophages, border-associated macrophages, and potential novel therapeutic options and recent advances in immunotherapies for brain tumors.

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