Immunopathology and immunotherapy of central nervous system cancer

Cancers of the central nervous system (CNS) are unique both in the immunopathology underlying their development and in the challenges they present to designing effective immune-based therapeutic strategies. The immune response in the CNS has fundamental differences from that seen elsewhere in the organism. Moreover, a series of evasion mechanisms have been described for CNS tumors, which limit effective recognition and effective antitumoral cytotoxic responses by the immune system. A series of therapeutic approaches are currently being developed for enhancing and focusing the immune system to elicit and enhance a therapeutic antitumoral response. In this chapter, an overview of the intricacies of the immune system in the CNS within the context of tumor immunology is presented. In addition, some of the most salient immunotherapeutic advances for treatment of CNS tumors are explored.