Open AccessImmunotherapy of Diffuse Gliomas: Helping the Brain Fight Back!
Author(s) -
Wesseling Pieter,
Adema Gosse J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
brain pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.986
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1750-3639
pISSN - 1015-6305
DOI - 10.1111/j.1750-3639.2009.00317.x
Subject(s) - immunotherapy , glioma , medicine , cancer research , immunology , immune system
“Immunotherapy of gliomas ” in this issue of Brain Pathology. doi:10.1111/j.1750-3639.2009.00317.x Diffuse gliomas encompass astrocytic, oligodendroglial and mixed oligo-astrocytic tumors of different malignancy grades. Of these, the most malignant astrocytic (or oligo-astrocytic) tumor, that is, glioblastoma, is unfortunately also the most frequent one (1, 6). Unlike almost all other brain tumors, diffuse gliomas show exten-sive diffuse infiltration through the neuropil, that is, the dense network of neuronal and glial cell processes. This growth pattern precludes complete surgical tumor removal and renders eradication of diffuse infiltrative glioma cells by radiotherapy difficult, without significantly damaging the infiltrated brain parenchyma at the same time. Also, the success of chemotherapy is hampered because in diffusely infiltrated areas with relatively preserved architecture, th