TITLE:
Issues to Consider in Designing Immunotherapy Clinical Trials for Glioblastoma Management
AUTHORS:
Adela Wu, Michael Lim
KEYWORDS:
Cancer, Glioblastoma Management, Treatment Response, Prognosis, Pseudoprogression, Biomarker, Microbiome, Immunotherapy, Chemotherapy
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
Vol.7 No.8,
August
10,
2016
ABSTRACT: Glioblastoma (GBM)
is the most common primary brain malignancy in adults and has a poor prognosis
despite standard of care treatment. The mainstay of GBM treatment has relied on
maximum surgical resection and chemotherapy and radiation. Cancer immunotherapy
has made great strides since the advent of anti-PD-1, anti-CTLA-4, and other
immune checkpoint inhibitors. With the advancement of novel therapeutics, more
clinical trials for patients have opened as well. An important future direction
of clinical trials is the ability to identify appropriate patients to optimize
treatment response and minimize toxicities. This review describes
considerations in designing future GBM clinical trials in not only
immunotherapy but also with other promising treatments. We will discuss
factors, such as pseudoprogression, genetic and circulating biomarkers, and the
commensal microbiome of patients in the setting of clinical trial design.