A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy in Glioblastoma Multiforme

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death and continues to grow globally, exerting tremendous physical, emotional and financial strain on individuals and their families. Glioblastoma is the most frequent malignant tumor of the Central nervous system with the worst prognosis. The current conventional treatment of surgery chemo and radiation does not provide complete remission. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most powerful antigen presenting cells and DC-based vaccination has the potential to target and eliminate GBM cells and enhance the responses of these cells to the existing therapies with minimal damage to the healthy tissues around them. It can enhance recognition of GBM cells by the patients’ immune system and activate vast, potent, and longlasting immune reactions to eliminate them. Dendritic cell immunotherapy aims at inducing an antitumoral immune response seeking to exploit this pivotal role of DC therapeutically. Keeping this in mind, a retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of dendritic cell immunotherapy in GBM patients who had recurrence or residual disease post conventional therapy. The outcome of the study has been encouraging proving beneficial for patients with minimum residual tumor burden.