Clinical Efficacy of Tumor Antigen-Pulsed DC Treatment for High-Grade Glioma Patients: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis

BackgroundThe effectiveness of immunotherapy for high-grade glioma (HGG) patients remains controversial. To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of dendritic cells (DCs) alone in the treatment of HGG, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis in terms of patient survival with relevant published clinical studies.Materials and methodsA total of 409 patients, including historical cohorts, nonrandomized and randomized controls with HGG, were selected for the meta-analysis.ResultsThe treatment of HGG with DCs was associated with a significantly improved one-year survival (OS) (pppp = 0.23).The percentages of CD3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4+ T cells and CD16+ lymphocyte subset were not significantly increased in the DC group compared with the baseline levels observed before treatment (p>0.05), whereas CD56+ lymphocyte subset were significantly increased after DC treatment (p = 0.0001). Furthermore, the levels of IFN-γ in the peripheral blood of HGG patients, which reflect the immune function of the patients, were significantly increased after DC immunotherapy (pConclusionsThus, our meta-analysis showed that DC immunotherapy markedly prolongs survival rates and progression-free time, enhances immune function, and improves the efficacy of the treatment of HGG patients.背景 高级别胶质瘤（high-grade glioma, HGG）患者的免疫治疗有效性仍存在争议。为评估单纯树突状细胞（dendritic cells, DCs）疗法治疗HGG的临床疗效，本研究针对已发表的相关临床研究中的患者生存结局开展了系统评价与荟萃分析。 材料与方法 本荟萃分析共纳入409例HGG患者，涵盖历史队列、非随机对照及随机对照研究对象。 结果 单纯DC疗法治疗HGG可显著提升患者1年总生存期（overall survival, OS）（pppp = 0.23）。与治疗前基线水平相比，DC治疗组中CD3+CD8+、CD3+CD4+ T细胞及CD16+淋巴细胞亚群占比无显著升高（p>0.05）；而DC治疗后CD56+淋巴细胞亚群占比显著升高（p = 0.0001）。此外，反映患者免疫功能的HGG患者外周血干扰素-γ（interferon-γ, IFN-γ）水平在DC免疫治疗后亦显著升高（p。 结论 本荟萃分析结果显示，DC免疫治疗可显著延长HGG患者的总生存期与无进展生存期，改善机体免疫功能，提升高级别胶质瘤的临床治疗效果。