The Second Gliomatosis Cerebri Conference
The Second International Gliomatosis Cerebri Conference Group convened at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda on June 22nd–23rd 2017.
Just like the First Gliomatosis Cerebri Conference, the group is composed of the family advocates for the research of Gliomatosis Cerebri cure, medical experts and scientists. Most members of the conference came from the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The second Gliomatosis Cerebri Conference focused on the discussion of the progress made towards the understanding of GC and the development of meaningful collaborative projects to be implemented within the next two years.
During the conference, three provocative projects were identified: (1) sequencing and target identification, (2) evaluating the potential of immunotherapy, and (3) clinical translation”.
The Second Gliomatosis Cerebri Conference Provocative Projects
Project 1: Sequencing and target identification
This project focuses on GC tissue sequencing and target identification. The plan is creating an international GC registry for a comprehensive study on GC biology. According to their report, “GC is heterogeneous, often with a solid and an infiltrative portion, experts recommended that tumor tissue should be sampled from more than one site, with emphasis on tissue samples from any solid tumor component or central tumor as well as infiltrative part.”
Project 2: Evaluating the potential of immunotherapy
Focused on the evaluation of the potential of immunotherapeutic for patients with GC, particularly given the exceptional response of a patient with GC on a Phase 1 study of radiation therapy administered with the immunomodulatory agent, lenalidomide [18]. There are multiple unknowns in this patient population including baseline immune function, immunosuppressive mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment and if this differs from those with other malignant glioma phenotypes, and presence or absence of tumor-specific antigens. To identify target antigens, tumor samples need to be studied genetically with single-cell RNA sequencing and the exploration of tumors microenvironment. Several studies have described a synergistic effect of radiation therapy with immunotherapy and this opportunity should be explored in GC [19, 20].
It was further planned that projects on immunotherapy should be linked to the GC registry (Project 1) so that tumor tissue and response to immunotherapy can be systematically studied.
Project 3: Clinical Translation
This third project is to for GC-specific pre-clinical and patient-related research. However, the lack of understanding of the biology of GC made the group agree instead to initially focus first on preclinical studies on GC invasiveness. These clinical studies will then be subsequently projected to be built upon this work.
A 2-year timeline was also targeted for each of these provocative projects.
This article is solely based on the published –Gliomatosis Cerebri: a consensus summary report from the Second International Gliomatosis Cerebri Group Meeting, June 22–23, 2017, Bethesda, USA.
Mark W. Kieran,MD, PhD
Jeffrey Greenfield, MD, PhD
Andres Morales La Madrid
2nd International Gliomatosis Cerebri Working Group
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