A research team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital developed a new therapeutic approach for delaying lower grade glioma malignant progression using adolescents and young adult models of glioma.

The innovative approach uses autologous bone marrow isolated myeloid cells (GEMys) for the stable expression and secretion of interleukin 2 (IL2), a cytokine associated with responding to invading pathogens and the recruitment of cytotoxic anti-cancer immune cells to the tumor microenvironment (TME). These bone marrow derived GEMys can also be used to deliver other cytokines to potentiate the trafficking and activation of cytotoxic T and NK cells to kill tumor cells and reprogram the TME to prevent glioma progression. This novel innate immunotherapy is delivered systemically through intravenous injection and may be less toxic than chemotherapies.