Combination of Immunotherapy and Radiotherapy for Recurrent Malignant Gliomas: Results From a Prospective Study

Background World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV glioma remains one of the most lethal tumors with a dismal prognosis and inevitable recurrence. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of immunotherapy with radiotherapy in this population of patients. Methods This study was a single-arm, open-label, phase I trial based on patients with recurrent WHO grade IV glioma. Patients were treated with intracranial and systemic immunoadjuvants in combination with low-dose reirradiation. The primary endpoint of the present trial was safety. Secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03392545. Results Thirty patients were enrolled. The most common adverse events (AEs) were fever (66.7%), vomiting (33.3%), headache (30.0%), and fatigue (23.3%). Only a single patient experienced grade 3 fever, and no grade 4 AEs or deaths related to treatment were observed. Of the 30 patients, 1 (3.3%) had a complete response, 5 (16.7%) had a partial response, 9 (30.0%) had stable disease, and 15 (50.0%) had progressive disease, resulting in an objective response rate of 20.0%. The median PFS of the entire cohort was 88.0 (61.0-254.0) days, and the median OS was 362.0 (197.0-601.0) days. Patients could be divided into responders and non-responders, and these groups exhibited a significant difference in terms of survival time, T lymphocyte subsets, frequency of cell division cycle 27 (CDC27) mutation status, and CD15 and CD68 expression (P<0.05). Conclusion The combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy is well tolerated and may provide clinical benefit for patients with recurrent WHO grade IV glioma. A prospective phase II study is needed to further validate the efficacy of our therapeutic regimen.

Automated summary

The combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy showed good safety and potential clinical benefit for patients with recurrent WHO grade IV glioma. Further prospective phase II study is needed to confirm the efficacy of this therapeutic regimen.