UCLA researchers have enhanced immunotherapy for malignant gliomas by combining a dendritic cell vaccine with poly-ICLC, showing promising improvements in immune response and potential for increased survival rates, paving the way for more effective treatments. The use of poly-ICLC in combination with a dendritic cell-based immunotherapy vaccine shows promise as a treatment for patients with deadly brain cancer. Researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a combination immunotherapy that boosts the immune response in patients with malignant gliomas, an aggressive and challenging-to-treat type of brain tumor.
The study, published in Nature Communications , found that pairing a personalized dendritic cell vaccine with the immune-boosting substance poly-ICLC enhances the immune response and activity of T cells in patients with malignant glioma, and improves the dendritic cells’ ability to fight the brain tumor more effectively than the vaccine alone. “Treating malignant gliomas is very complex and due to the infiltrative nature of these tumors and their location in the brain, these patients often have a poor prognosis,” said Robert Prins, a professor of molecular and medical pharmacology and of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA , and co-senior author of the study. “By improving the potency of the vaccine, we’re hoping it can induce more effective anti-tumor immune responses in patients diagnosed with malig.
