Interactions Between Anti-Angiogenic Therapy and Immunotherapy in Glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor with a median survival ranging from 6.2 to 16.7 months. The complex interactions between the tumor and the cells of tumor microenvironment leads to tumor evolution which ultimately results in treatment failure. Immunotherapy has shown great potential in the treatment of solid tumors but has been less effective in treating glioblastoma. Failure of immunotherapy in glioblastoma has been attributed to low T-cell infiltration in glioblastoma and dysfunction of the T-cells that are present in the glioblastoma microenvironment. Recent advances in single-cell sequencing have increased our understanding of the transcriptional changes in the tumor microenvironment pre and post-treatment. Another treatment modality targeting the tumor microenvironment that has failed in glioblastoma has been anti-angiogenic therapy such as the VEGF neutralizing antibody bevacizumab, which did not improve survival in randomized clinical trials. Interestingly, the immunosuppressed microenvironment and abnormal vasculature of glioblastoma interact in ways that suggest the potential for synergy between these two therapeutic modalities that have failed individually. Abnormal tumor vasculature has been associated with immune evasion and the creation of an immunosuppressive microenvironment, suggesting that inhibiting pro-angiogenic factors like VEGF can increase infiltration of effector immune cells into the tumor microenvironment. Remodeling of the tumor vasculature by inhibiting VEGFR2 has also been shown to improve the efficacy of PDL1 cancer immunotherapy in mouse models of different cancers. In this review, we discuss the recent developments in our understanding of the glioblastoma tumor microenvironment specially the tumor vasculature and its interactions with the immune cells, and opportunities to target these interactions therapeutically. Combining anti-angiogenic and immunotherapy in glioblastoma has the potential to unlock these therapeutic modalities and impact the survival of patients with this devastating cancer.