Therapeutic cell-based vaccines for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)
Therapeutic cell-based vaccines for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)
Mehrshad Ebrahim pour,1Samin Ghorbani Moghadam,2Parian Shirkhani,3Amirhossein Sahebkar,4Fatemeh Mosaffa,5,*
1. School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 2. School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 3. School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 4. School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 5. School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Introduction: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the deadliest types of tumors. Conventional treatments available are surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, the overall survival rate of patients is extremely low, mainly due to significant drug delivery challenges and tumor heterogeneity. Therefore, novel effective treatments are urgently required, among which cancer vaccines represent a promising candidate. In the current study, we will review therapeutic vaccines used for GBM treatment, with a focus on cell-based vaccines including dendritic cell (DC) and tumor cell vaccines.
Methods: In this review, we summarized the information from 45 clinical trials in which cell-based vaccines have been used for the treatment of GBM in more than 1500 patients, and further data were collected using PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases.
Results: These vaccines have not been associated with significant toxicity and have been reported to be safe. Based on the findings of these clinical studies, the use of cell-based vaccines can slightly increase overall survival and progression-free survival in patients. However, this therapeutic modality is faced with several limitations including the insufficiency of antigenic activity of GBM to boost immune response and dose optimization.
Conclusion: To make cell-based vaccines the preferred standard treatment for GBM, more investigations are required to address their current limitations.