Immunotherapy is any treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. While no immunotherapies are yet approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of gliomas, several early-stage clinical trials have suggested that immunotherapies might be effective in treating gliomas. Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering are actively pursuing immunotherapy approaches for treating gliomas.

Checkpoint Inhibitors

Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors are being tested in gliomas. These include pembrolizumab (Keytruda^®) and nivolumab (Opdivo^®). The drugs work by releasing the brakes on the immune system, empowering it to go after and fight cancer.