WIKIMEDIA, JENSFLORIAN
Glioblastoma, a highly malignant and usually fatal form of brain cancer, is resistant to treatment in part because it can quickly develop resistance to both conventional and targeted therapies. A study reported this week (March 7) in Science Advances suggests that glioblastoma’s ability to disable immune checkpoints may be assisted by materials the tumor releases in extracellular vesicles.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that the extracellular vesicles released by glioblastomas include programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), a protein that normally helps regulate T-cell activity. PD-L1 also appears on the surface of tumors, allowing them to remain hidden from circulating immune cells—a property that has made the protein an attractive target for checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy.
“This is the first time that anyone ...
