Immunotherapy of High-Grade Gliomas: Preclinical In Vivo Experiments in Animal Models

We have demonstrated that dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with total tumor RNA (ttRNA) represent a potent platform for the induction of antitumor immunity in preclinical murine glioma models. DCs are potent immunostimulatory cells that represent a promising contemporary biologic entity for realizing the potentials of immunotherapy. The use of RNA to encode tumor antigens for DCs was pioneered at our institution by Drs. Eli Gilboa and Smita Nair, but the ability of RNA-loaded DCs to stimulate potent antitumor immunity has been independently confirmed in several murine and human systems. In fact, there is accumulating evidence that RNA transfection represents a superior method for loading antigens onto DCs. In this chapter, we describe the methods involved in using DCs electroporated with ttRNA to potentiate the host immune response against infiltrating MGs. Furthermore, this chapter includes an in-depth review of the history of immunotherapy for high-grade gliomas using animal models as well as an overview of some of the more compelling immunotherapeutic strategies known to date.