IL-4 Gene Transfer for the Treatment of Experimental Gliomas

Current treatments of malignant brain tumors have failed to change significantly the outcome of patients with glioblastoma [1]. This led to the search for novel modalities of treatment, including immunotherapy. The rationale for immunotherapy of malignant gliomas derives from the finding that lymphocytic infiltrates, when present in primary brain tumors, are associated with improved prognosis [2], even though the T cell dependent arm of the immune response is generally depressed in glioma patients [3–5]. Therefore, immunotherapy approaches primarily relying on immune mechanisms that are not dependent on T cells might be therapeutically advantageous.