Glioblastoma Evolution and Immune Microenvironment

Unfortunately, patients with glioblastoma have largely not benefited from immune-activating therapies. The goal of our research program is to better understand how cell intrinsic and glioblastoma immune microenvironment evolution influences this limited clinical response to conventional immunotherapies. We explore how resistance mechanisms develop and tumors evade conventional immunotherapies using a combination of single-cell and spatial analyses from human tissue obtained in the operating room with mechanistic and in vivo experiments from glioblastoma mouse models. By studying longitudinal microenvironment evolution with serial tissue sampling approaches, we hope to make biological discoveries that directly lead to new therapies for patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma. Currently, our work is focused on the cytokine IL6 and its potential as a promising strategy in combination with other immunotherapies.