In Honor of Glioblastoma Awareness Day: GBM Treatment at the IOZK
The third Wednesday in July is designated as Glioblastoma Awareness Day. Glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM for short, is a rare but highly dangerous form of brain tumor. Glioblastoma Awareness Day was established in the United States after Senator John McCain died of the disease in 2018. Since then, foundations and patients have used this date to raise awareness about this often fatal form of cancer.
Another goal of the event is to advance research on GBM and implement new approaches, because, precisely due to its rarity, treatment for GBM is less developed than for other forms of cancer. Yet the burden of this disease has a significant impact on society, as it carries a very poor prognosis and also affects children.
The Challenge of Complexity
As a complex and dynamic tumor disease, GBM also responds only to a limited extent to standard therapy. The tumor cannot be viewed as a single mass, because a complex, heterogeneous tissue forms around the cancer cells, creating the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, the cancer is not only different in each individual, but also changes over time. For this reason, in addition to standardized therapy, individualized immunotherapy has been developed for this condition.
Multimodal personalized immunotherapy combines several components that are tailored to each patient's immune system:
- In dendritic cell therapy, the patient's own cells are exposed to tumor characteristics in the laboratory and then re-administered to the patient.
- Localized electrohyperthermia treats a specific region of the body. Cancer cells tend to respond more strongly to this treatment, in a way that can trigger danger signals in the immune system.
- The Newcastle disease virus specifically targets cancer cells in humans. Under certain conditions, it can therefore alert the immune system to the presence of cancer.
- With regard to the tumor microenvironment, stabilizing and anti-inflammatory medications are prescribed.
- In addition, checkpoint inhibitors that target specific immune receptors are used as part of the treatment. The goal is to prevent the tumor from suppressing the immune response in this way.
- The treatment is periodically adjusted to the patient's tumor progression.
Experience at the IOZK
Patients with GBM are regularly treated at the IOZK. Individualized multimodal immunotherapy offers an additional treatment option and is frequently used for patients diagnosed with GBM. This work has led to retrospective scientific studies that demonstrate the therapy’s effectiveness.
Stefaan Van Gool explains the challenges and opportunities in the treatment of GBM: Watch the video on YouTube
The IOZK has published scientific articles on GBM: List of Publications
