Harnessing the effector mechanisms of the immune system to combat
brain tumors with
antigen specificity and memory has been in research and clinical testing for many years. Government grant mechanisms and non-profit organizations have supported many innovative projects and trials while biotech companies have invested in the development of needed tools, assays and novel clinical approaches. The National
Brain Tumor Society and the Parker Institute for
Cancer Immunotherapy partnered to host a workshop to share recent data, ideas and identify both hurdles and new opportunities for harnessing
immunotherapy against pediatric and adult
brain tumors. Adoptively transferred cell
therapies have recently shown promising early clinical results. Local cell delivery to the brain, new
antigen targets and innovative engineering approaches are poised for testing in a new generation of clinical trials. Although several such advances have been made, several obstacles remain for the successful application of
immunotherapies for
brain tumors, including the need for more representative animal models that can better foreshadow human trial outcomes.
Tumor and tumor microenvironment biopsies with multiomic analysis are critical to understand mechanisms of response and patient stratification, yet
brain tumors are especially challenging for such biopsy collection. These workshop proceedings and commentary shed light on the status of
immunotherapy in pediatric and adult
brain tumor patients, including current research as well as opportunities for improving future efforts to bring
immunotherapy to the forefront in the management of
brain tumors.