Peptide-based immunotherapeutic approaches to glioma: a review.

Despite advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the prognosis of patients with malignant glioma is still very poor; therefore, the development of a novel therapeutic modality is essential. There are increasing reports demonstrating that systemic immunotherapy using dendritic cells or a peptide vaccine is capable of inducing an antiglioma response. Peptide-based immunotherapy strategies appear promising as an approach to successfully induce an antitumor immune response and prolong survival in patients with glioma without major side effects. Now, peptide-based immunotherapy could be a new treatment modality for patients with brain tumors.