Immunotherapy

Our approach to immunotherapy

In the UCI Health Brain Tumor Program, we give you individual attention and tailor your personalized care plan. We want you and your family to feel comfortable with what you’re learning before taking the next step forward.

Multidisciplinary care is at the heart of our practice. We formulate answers as a team so that you don't wait weeks going from one specialist to the other. One way our neuro oncology, medical oncology and neurosurgery specialists collaborate is to visit you together to answer your questions.

We blend compassionate care with access to the most advanced treatment approaches. Our program offers the most promising clinical trials that exist nationally and internationally. 

Our goal with immunotherapy and cell therapy

There are currently no approved vaccines for brain tumors, but our experts are looking to change that. We are among an elite group of researchers expanding access to immunotherapy and cell therapy through clinical trials. Cancer immunotherapy is rapidly improving outcomes for patients just like you and works in a way that’s similar to a vaccine.

Note that immunotherapy and cellular therapies are only available through our clinical trial program. These treatments are not considered standard of care and not everyone qualifies for them.

How to get involved with immunotherapy

If you are working with us in our Brain Tumor Program, explore our clinical trials pages to see if you’re eligible for immunotherapy or cell therapy. 

Different clinical trials have different times of entry. We get the best results when you enter an appropriate clinical trial immediately after you get diagnosed. The earlier that we can intervene, the better. 

The second point of entry is when you complete your first line of treatment and it stops responding. The more unsuccessful treatments you try, the harder it becomes to qualify for a trial due to weakened immunity.

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a treatment that trains your immune system to identify and destroy trace cancer cells. 

Am I a candidate for immunotherapy?

You might be. One of the most common and aggressive brain tumors we see is a glioblastoma. Even after receiving the best available treatments, it tends to recur, which can feel frightening. 
Glioblastoma is especially well-suited for cancer immunotherapy. If you have glioblastoma or a malignant glioma, discuss whether you qualify for a clinical trial with your doctor. 

How does immunotherapy work?

• You have cells, blood proteins and organs that protect you against invaders like bacteria and viruses
• Though your immune system can distinguish between cancerous and healthy cells, we can give it a boost
• Visit our neurosurgery program where we’ll take a tissue sample of your brain tumor 
• We’ll use the cells from that biopsy to develop your very own vaccine
• Then you’ll get regular vaccine injections over many months to strengthen your body’s natural immune response

What are the highlights of your program?

• More options: Some vaccine treatments are only available here
• You’ll thrive, not just survive: Some of our patients are still going strong three years after their first vaccine treatment
• Recognized research expertise: Our cancer center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Orange County. It’s one of only 53 in the nation, and you benefit from our high-quality safety standards and excellent patient outcomes.

Is immunotherapy as hard on you as chemo?

No. It is generally considered much easier and less toxic on your system than chemotherapy. You’ll be in close touch with your doctor in case you have any questions.

Benefits of immunotherapy

• It’s quick and painless: You might experience minor discomfort at the injection site
• Few or no side effects: Most of our patients have minimal side effects
• Longer survival: Studies show that our immunotherapy patients survive significantly longer with than without it
• You can receive other treatments: While taking the vaccine, you may be able to get other treatments. That includes participating in multiple clinical trials for even better outcomes. 

What to expect

First, you can expect to have surgery, the gold standard in brain tumor treatment. Immunotherapy and cell therapy are not standard of care treatments. We are not replacing standard treatments like surgery, radiation or chemotherapy with immunotherapy, we are adding to them. 

The majority of immunotherapy and cellular therapies are administered like any vaccine in your arm or leg. The adverse effects we’ve seen are usually very mild. You may have a little bit of tenderness, a low-grade fever, minor aches or malaise—these treatments have a good safety profile.

What happens after my immunotherapy treatment?

Unlike a COVID vaccine, we administer immunotherapy or cell therapy vaccines in a series. Creating immunity to an existing tumor takes time, so we administer them over several months. 

Every research protocol is a little different, but to prime your immune system, you may get a vaccine once a week for three weeks. Then you may have a monthly shot and eventually get one every other month. 

Eventually, the vaccine can work so well that you no longer have the tumor tissue available to make more of the vaccine. We’ll monitor you with MRI brain scans every two months. That frequency could increase or decrease based on medical or other conditions. 

Why choose UCI Health for immunotherapy?

We are the only program in Orange County with doctors who have specialized (fellowship) training in brain tumor care

We combine that intense training and expertise with compassion to get you the best possible outcome. You’re in excellent hands. 

In addition to immunotherapy, the UCI Health Brain Tumor Program researchers are working on the next generation of innovative treatments, cell therapy

With cell therapy, we take your own immune cells and modify them genetically to recognize and attack proteins specific to your brain tumor. We then reinfuse those modified cells back into your body to help you fight the cancer.

We are specifically looking at promising CAR T-cells and NK (natural killer) cells in our research. 

We are the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Orange County, and one of only 53 across the U.S

We treat more patients with cancer — and more complex cases — than any other healthcare provider in our region. An NCI designation is a very select stamp of approval. It means we’ve proven exceptional high quality in patient care, nursing and social work staff, community relationships and research.

Patients who receive treatment at a comprehensive center have a higher survival rate than those treated at non-comprehensive centers. Our NCI designation also gives us access to the wisdom of the entire comprehensive cancer center network. As part of this consortium, we collaborate on research.

We get invited to be part of clinical trials that are unique to this network and which in turn benefit you

We work with a very high volume of patients

High volume is directly correlated to higher survival and success rates. Our expert training and decades of daily clinical experience help us successfully manage complex conditions.