Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer that kills nearly 13,000 Americans each year, and even with intensive treatment, most patients survive only about 15 months. Immunotherapy has transformed care for many cancers, but so far it has not worked for GBM. Understanding why is critical to saving lives.
Recent discoveries show that some of the immune cells that protect the brain don’t come from elsewhere in the body. Rather, they come directly from the bone marrow inside the skull. These nearby immune cells act like a local emergency response team and may naturally help defend the brain against diseases, including GBM.
Dr. Louveau and his colleagues have found that an integrin can activate these skull‑derived immune cells and help them move into the brain. In GBM, this process may strengthen the body’s ability to fight the tumor and potentially improve survival.
The project will investigate how this integrin influences survival in GBM and how skull‑derived immune cells help fight tumors in both patient samples and research models. If successful, this work could lead to a completely new treatment strategy — boosting the skull’s own natural immune defenses — to bring new hope to GBM patients and their families.
100% For The Cure
