Immunotherapy Improves Glioblastoma Patient Survival

According to a recent study led by Duke Cancer Institute, research published in the journal Nature details an innovative approach for treating lethal brain tumors using a tetanus booster, which primes the immune system and enhances the effects of a vaccine therapy. The researchers presented survival data for a small, randomized trial, also detailing how the tetanus pre-conditioning technique works, providing a road map for enhancing dendritic cell immunotherapies that have shown promise treating the most lethal form of brain cancer. “Patients with glioblastoma usually survive for little more than one year. However, in patients who received the immunotherapy, half lived nearly five years or longer from their diagnosis, so the findings are promising and significant,” said the study’s lead author. The researchers built the study on earlier findings that found glioblastoma tumors harbor a strain of cytomegalovirus (CMV) that is not present in the surrounding brain tissue, creating a natural target for an immune therapy. To read more about this study, click here.