The following is a summary of “Understanding the immunosuppressive microenvironment of glioma: mechanistic insights and clinical perspectives,” published in the May 2024 issue of Hematology by Lin et al.
Glioblastoma (GBM), the foremost malignant intracranial tumor, presents a formidable challenge due to its immunosuppressive microenvironment, hindering conventional therapeutic interventions. Despite established treatments like surgical resection, radiotherapy, temozolomide administration, and emerging modalities like immunotherapy and engineered medicine, efficacy remains limited, leading to suboptimal prognoses. Recent scrutiny into GBM’s inhibitory microenvironment underscores the pivotal role of cellular constituents and their interactions with malignant cells and neurons. Emerging immune and targeted therapies offer promising avenues for GBM treatment, notably addressing the aggregation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), glioma-associated macrophages/microglia (GAMs), and regulatory T cells (Tregs), with MDSCs playing a central role in immune evasion, tumor progression, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. MDSCs employ intricate immunosuppressive mechanisms, adapting to the dynamic tumor microenvironment (TME). Understanding the GBM-MDSC interplay forms the basis for therapeutic interventions.
This review elucidates immune regulatory mechanisms within the GBM microenvironment, explores therapeutic targets, and consolidates insights into MDSC induction and its role in GBM immunosuppression. Comprehensive coverage of ongoing clinical trials and potential treatments envisions a future where targeting MDSCs reshapes the immune landscape of GBM. A multidisciplinary, multi-target approach can improve GBM prognosis and quality of life through synergistic integration of immunotherapy with other modalities.
Source: jhoonline.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13045-024-01544-7