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A systematic review of immunotherapy in high-grade glioma: learning from the past to shape future perspectives

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 February 2024

This article has been updated

Abstract

High-grade gliomas (HGGs) constitute the most common malignant primary brain tumor with a poor prognosis despite the standard multimodal therapy. In recent years, immunotherapy has changed the prognosis of many cancers, increasing the hope for HGG therapy. We conducted a comprehensive search on PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases to include relevant studies. This study was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Fifty-two papers were finally included (44 phase II and eight phase III clinical trials) and further divided into four different subgroups: 14 peptide vaccine trials, 15 dendritic cell vaccination (DCV) trials, six immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) trials, and 17 miscellaneous group trials that included both “active” and “passive” immunotherapies. In the last decade, immunotherapy created great hope to increase the survival of patients affected by HGGs; however, it has yielded mostly dismal results in the setting of phase III clinical trials. An in-depth analysis of these clinical results provides clues about common patterns that have led to failures at the clinical level and helps shape the perspective for the next generation of immunotherapies in neuro-oncology.

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Data availability

The authors take full responsibility for the data, the analysis, and the interpretation of the research, and they have full access to all of the data. The dataset analyzed during the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the Sezione Italiana Giovani Neurologi (SIgN) for providing the opportunity to establish the working group that brought this project to fruition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

    Giacomo Sferruzza

  2. Neurology Unit, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy

    Giacomo Sferruzza

  3. Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy

    Stefano Consoli, Fedele Dono & Giacomo Evangelista

  4. Center of Advanced Studies and Technologies (CAST), “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy

    Stefano Consoli, Fedele Dono & Giacomo Evangelista

  5. Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Institute of Neurology, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy

    Alessia Giugno

  6. Neurology Unit, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

    Edoardo Pronello

  7. Department of Neurosciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

    Eleonora Rollo & Marina Romozzi

  8. Neurology Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, Cattinara University Hospital, ASUGI, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

    Lucrezia Rossi

  9. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072, Milan, Italy

    Umberto Pensato

  10. IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, Rozzano, 20089, Milan, Italy

    Umberto Pensato

Authors
  1. Giacomo Sferruzza
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  2. Stefano Consoli
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  3. Fedele Dono
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  4. Giacomo Evangelista
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  5. Alessia Giugno
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  6. Edoardo Pronello
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  7. Eleonora Rollo
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  8. Marina Romozzi
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  9. Lucrezia Rossi
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  10. Umberto Pensato
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Contributions

GS conceived and designed the study. All authors acquired and analyzed data, and drafted and critically revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giacomo Sferruzza.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The original article contains a spelling error in author name. The author “Eleonara Rollo” should read as “Eleonora Rollo”.

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Sferruzza, G., Consoli, S., Dono, F. et al. A systematic review of immunotherapy in high-grade glioma: learning from the past to shape future perspectives. Neurol Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-024-07350-w

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