title: Therapeutic Efficacy of Adoptive Cell Transfer on Survival of Patients with Glioblastoma Multiforme: Case Reports.
abstract: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which occurs mostly in individuals over the age of 40, accounts for 12-15% of all primary brain tumors. Patients with GBM have a poor prognosis, even after aggressive upfront therapies. The present study documents that in 5 of these patients, the use of a novel immunotherapeutic approach combined with standard initial therapies resulted in a prolonged survival of over 3 years, which is significantly longer than the expected survival time with conventional therapies. During the course of intravenous cell-transfer immunotherapy, axial magnetic resonance images of the tumor region were monitored for over 5 years. The discontinuation of adoptive transfer regimens resulted in the rapid deterioration of patients with development of Gd-enhancing regions, indicating the initiation of tumor recurrence. Among patients with recurrence, the reinstatement of adoptive cell regimens with more frequent cell-transfers resulted in an apparent re-regression of tumors. Significantly longer survival times were seen in patients receiving transferred autologous lymphoid cells which were expanded in vitro, and which had a considerable proportion of gammadeltaT cells. We conclude that immunotherapy, combined with standard treatment, plays a significant role in the management of GBM patients and provides patients with a better prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Miyagi Cancer Center Hospital, Natori, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Katakura
authors.forename: Youichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Teruaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sekine
authors.forename: Yu F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujimiya