2003 Young Clinician Investigator

Andrew T. Parsa, MD, PhD
University of California - San Francisco

Mechanisms Underlying Glioma Immunity

Although information regarding the genetic events that lead to malignant glial transformation is becoming increasingly available, there have been few therapeutic breakthroughs. Immunotherapy is an attractive alternative to conventional adjuvant therapy because it can specifically target malignant glial cells while preserving function of surrounding cells, including neurons. Several clinical trials of active immunotherapy for malignant glioma patients have been initiated. The failure of these clinical trials to document an objective response to therapy that correlates with specific anti-glioma immunity is concerning. To date, all clinical studies of anti-glioma immunotherapy have been based upon pre-clinical data using models that do not have a tumor specific antigen. The availability of a recently developed V12Ha-ras transgenic model of glioma provides a unique opportunity to ask fundamental questions regarding antigen specific immunity against transformed glia.

Click here to view  Final Research Report  (PDF 13.0KB)