Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Istituto Oncologico del Mediterraneo, Via Penninazzo 7, 95029 Viagrande, Italy.
Cells. 2023 Sep 15;12(18):2284. doi: 10.3390/cells12182284.
Brain tumors represent a heterogeneous group of neoplasms involving the brain or nearby tissues, affecting populations of all ages with a high incidence worldwide. Among the primary brain tumors, the most aggressive and also the most common is glioblastoma (GB), a type of glioma that falls into the category of IV-grade astrocytoma. GB often leads to death within a few months after diagnosis, even if the patient is treated with available therapies; for this reason, it is important to continue to discover new therapeutic approaches to allow for a better survival rate of these patients. Immunotherapy, today, seems to be one of the most innovative types of treatment, based on the ability of the immune system to counteract various pathologies, including cancer. In this context, interleukin 21 (IL-21), a type I cytokine produced by natural killer (NK) cells and CD4 T lymphocytes, appears to be a valid target for new therapies since this cytokine is involved in the activation of innate and adaptive immunity. To match this purpose, our review deeply evaluated how IL-21 could influence the progression of GB, analyzing its main biological processes and mechanisms while evaluating the potential use of the latest available therapies.
脑肿瘤是一组涉及大脑或附近组织的异质性肿瘤，在全球范围内影响着各个年龄段的人群，发病率很高。在原发性脑肿瘤中，最具侵袭性和最常见的是胶质母细胞瘤（GB），这是一种星形细胞瘤，属于 IV 级胶质瘤。即使患者接受了现有疗法的治疗，GB 通常也会在诊断后几个月内导致死亡；因此，继续发现新的治疗方法以提高这些患者的生存率非常重要。免疫疗法是目前最具创新性的治疗方法之一，其基于免疫系统对抗包括癌症在内的各种疾病的能力。在这种情况下，白细胞介素 21（IL-21），一种由自然杀伤（NK）细胞和 CD4 T 淋巴细胞产生的 I 型细胞因子，似乎是新疗法的一个有效靶点，因为这种细胞因子参与固有和适应性免疫的激活。为了达到这个目的，我们的综述深入评估了 IL-21 如何影响 GB 的进展，分析了它的主要生物学过程和机制，同时评估了最新可用疗法的潜在用途。
