Precision immunization: Advances in glioma vaccine platforms and antigen targeting

Glioma remains one of the most challenging malignancies of the central nervous system, characterized by a highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and limited response to conventional therapies. Despite advances in surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, the prognosis for patients, particularly those with glioblastoma, remains poor.

Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising avenue, with cancer vaccines gaining attention for their potential to induce specific and durable anti-tumor immunity. Glioma vaccines aim to present tumor-associated or tumor-specific antigens to the immune system, thereby activating T-cells and overcoming local immune suppression. However, the clinical efficacy of vaccine strategies has been hindered by several factors, including antigen selection, delivery platforms, immune evasion mechanisms, and the complexity of the glioma immune landscape.

Recent progress in antigen discovery, nanocarrier systems, and combination regimens offers new hope for enhancing vaccine potency and specificity. This Research Topic seeks to consolidate the latest developments in precision immunization strategies, focusing on innovative vaccine platforms and intelligent antigen targeting to improve outcomes for glioma patients.

This Research Topic aims to explore and highlight recent advances in the design, development, and clinical application of vaccine-based immunotherapies for glioma. We seek to bring together research that elucidates novel antigen targets, innovative vaccine delivery platforms (including mRNA, dendritic cell, peptide, and viral vector-based vaccines), and strategies to modulate the glioma microenvironment to enhance vaccine efficacy. A key goal is to understand how precision immunization approaches can be tailored to individual tumor profiles, thereby overcoming heterogeneity and immune resistance. We also aim to address challenges related to vaccine safety, scalability, and integration with other treatment modalities. Ultimately, this collection will provide a comprehensive overview of the current landscape and future directions of glioma vaccinology, fostering the development of more effective and personalized immunotherapeutic interventions.

In this Research Topic, we would like to focus on novel Glioma Vaccine Platforms and novel immunotherapy. We welcome submissions of Original Research Articles, Reviews, and Mini-reviews covering but not limited to the following topics:

• Identification and validation of novel glioma antigens for vaccine development (e.g., neoantigens, cancer-testis antigens)

• Advances in vaccine platforms: dendritic cell vaccines, mRNA vaccines, peptide-based vaccines, viral vectors, and biomaterial-based delivery systems

• Mechanisms of immune activation and suppression in response to glioma vaccination

• Biomarkers for predicting vaccine response and patient stratification

• Combination strategies with immune checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viruses, or conventional therapies

• Preclinical and clinical studies evaluating safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of glioma vaccines

Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Glioma, Precision Immunization, tumor microenvironment, immune, novel immunotherapy, dendritic cells, CAR-T

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.