Brain tumor
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive (grade IV) and most common form of a malignant brain tumor. Even when aggressive multimodality therapy consisting of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgical excision is used, median survival is only 12–17 months. Standard therapy for glioblastoma multiforme consists of maximal surgical resection of the tumor, followed by radiotherapy between two and four weeks after the surgical procedure to remove the cancer, then by chemotherapy, such as temozolomide. Most patients with glioblastoma take a corticosteroid, typically dexamethasone, during their illness to relieve symptoms. Experimental treatments include targeted therapy, gamma knife radiosurgery, boron neutron capture therapy and gene therapy.
Tumor microenvironment
Inhibition of CSF-1R in a preclinical proneural glioblastoma multiforme model and in patient-derived glioma xenografts increased survival and shrank established tumors in an apparently T cell–independent manner that correlated with the reprogramming of macrophages away from an M2 phenotype. Similarly, an activator of TAMs, an agonistic antibody to CD40, when administered in combination with the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine, suppressed mouse PDA growth in a T cell–independent manner, suggesting that stimulated macrophages may have anticancer functions.