Dendritic cell immunotherapy for malignant gliomas.

The prognosis for patients with malignant gliomas remains poor despite advances in surgical technique, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Median survival for glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and deadliest form of brain cancer, remains only fifteen months even after optimal treatment with surgical resection followed by chemoradiation therapy. The grim prognosis can be attributed to the infiltrative nature of the disease, a central nervous system microenvironment that can escape immune surveillance and resistance of the tumor to chemotherapy. In recent trials, dendritic cells have demonstrated an ability to promote an effective anti-tumor immune response and sensitize glioma cells to chemotherapy. This review will discuss the results of dendritic-cell based immunotherapy clinical trials for the treatment of malignant gliomas and explore the future strategies of DC vaccines for glioma immunotherapy.