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Brain Sciences
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Editorial Board Collection Series: Advances in Neuro-Oncology
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Editorial Board Collection Series: Advances in Neuro-Oncology

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuro-oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 2286

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Terry Lichtor

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neurosurgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
Interests: brain tumors; immunotherapy; Alzheimer’s disease; imaging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “Editorial Board Collection Series: Advances in Neuro-Oncology”, is focused on providing an overview of developments in this field. The topics covered in this Special Issue include innovative surgical approaches, emerging technologies, and the prolongation of survival in patients undergoing various innovative treatment strategies. Antigenic differences between normal and malignant cells of cancer patients form the rationale for clinical immunotherapeutic strategies.  Immunization in patients with dendritic cells “fed” derivatives of tumor cells or transfected with tumor-RNA can result in the induction of tumor-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses against the patient’s malignant cells. In addition, work has been conducted involving the regulation of immune checkpoint inhibitors, which are capable of blocking the molecules involved in inhibiting immune cells that can result in the stimulation of the T cell response against various tumors, including brain tumors. In many aggressive tumors, such as gliomas, progression is enabled by local immunosuppression driven by the accumulation of regulatory T cells (Treg) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Cytokine gene vaccine therapy involving IL-15 or IL-2 has also been shown in brain tumor animal models to stimulate a potent antitumor immune response and prolong the survival of patients with these tumors. The contributions of the investigators summarized in this Special Issue will hopefully be developed to improve the management of these patients.  

Dr. Terry Lichtor
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • brain tumors
  • gliomas
  • cytokine gene vaccine therapy
  • immunotherapy
  • angiogenesis
  • checkpoint inhibitors
  • dendritic cell therapy

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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10 pages, 1500 KiB  
Article
Efficacy and Safety of Prolonged Adjuvant Temozolomide Treatment in Glioblastoma: Prospective Study of 81 Patients Undergoing up to 101 Cycles of Treatment
by Giulio Bonomo, Francesco Certo, Erica Grasso, Giuseppa Fiumanò, Davide Barbagallo, Rosario Caltabiano, Giuseppe Broggi, Gaetano Magro, Andrea Maugeri, Antonella Agodi, Fiorenza Latteri, Hector Sotoparra, Giovanni Buscema, Corrado Spatola, Alessandro Pluchino and Giuseppe M. V. Barbagallo
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(5), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15050428 - 23 Apr 2025
Viewed by 229
Abstract
Background: Although several studies investigated the efficacy of long-term adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) therapy in glioblastomas (GBs), no univocal data are currently available, and this topic remains controversial. The present study on our ongoing experience aims to assess whether the extended STUPP protocol confers [...] Read more.
Background: Although several studies investigated the efficacy of long-term adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) therapy in glioblastomas (GBs), no univocal data are currently available, and this topic remains controversial. The present study on our ongoing experience aims to assess whether the extended STUPP protocol confers prognostic benefits with acceptable safety. Methods: From 2004 to 2018, 81 patients with a new diagnosis of GB according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 classification, treated with gross total resection (GTR) or subtotal resection (STR), were enrolled. Patients were divided into Group A (long-term TMZ; N = 40) and Group B (standard STUPP protocol; N = 41). Results: In the extended STUPP group, compared with the standard STUPP group, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly improved (PFS: 27.8 vs. 7.5 months, p = 0.00001; OS: 35.9 vs. 11.3 months, p = 0.0001). To mitigate a potential survival bias, we focused on those in Group B who completed the recommended six cycles. Patients in Group A demonstrated a prolonged OS compared to Group B (27 vs. 10 months, p < 0.001). Similar findings were observed in a focused analysis of patients who had achieved a minimum survival of 12 months (27 vs. 15 months, p < 0.001) or 18 months (34 vs. 24 months, p = 0.044). Conclusions: Our analysis demonstrates a PFS and OS advantage with extended STUPP and suggests that young patients without corpus callosum invasion, with methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation, and treated with GTR are the best candidates. No significant safety difference emerged between extended and standard TMZ treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Collection Series: Advances in Neuro-Oncology)
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23 pages, 1783 KiB  
Article
Simultaneous Multi-Treatment Strategy for Brain Tumor Reduction via Nonlinear Control
by Muhammad Arsalan, Xiaojun Yu, Muhammad Tariq Sadiq and Ahmad Almogren
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(2), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15020207 - 17 Feb 2025
Viewed by 550
Abstract
Background: Recently proposed brain-tumor treatment strategies prioritize fast reduction of tumor cell population while often neglecting the radiation or chemotherapeutic drug dosage requirements to achieve it. Moreover, these techniques provide chemotherapy based treatment strategies, while ignoring the toxic side effects of the [...] Read more.
Background: Recently proposed brain-tumor treatment strategies prioritize fast reduction of tumor cell population while often neglecting the radiation or chemotherapeutic drug dosage requirements to achieve it. Moreover, these techniques provide chemotherapy based treatment strategies, while ignoring the toxic side effects of the drugs employed by it. Methods: This study updates the recently proposed brain-tumor system dynamics by incorporating radiotherapy along with chemotherapy to simultaneously initiate both therapies for a more comprehensive and effective response against tumor proliferation. Afterwards, based on the upgraded system dynamics, this study proposes a novel multi-input sigmoid-based smooth synergetic nonlinear controller with the aim to reduce the dosage requirements of both therapies while keeping the overall system response robust and efficient. The novelty of this study lies in the combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy inputs in a way that prioritizes patients health and well-being, while integrating advanced synergetic control technique with a sigmoid function based smoothing agent. Results: The proposed method reduced baseline radiation and chemo drug dosages by 57% and 33% respectively while effectively suppressing tumor growth and proliferation. Similarly, the proposed controller reduced the time required for complete tumor mitigation by 60% while reducing the radiation and chemotherapeutic drug intensity by 93.8% and 21.3% respectively. Conclusions: This study offers significant improvement in tumor treatment methodologies by providing a safer, less riskier brain-tumor treatment strategy that has promising potential to improve survival rates against this menacing health condition so that the affected patients may lead a healthier and better quality of life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Collection Series: Advances in Neuro-Oncology)
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Other

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12 pages, 3354 KiB  
Systematic Review
Determining the Predictors of Recurrence or Regrowth Following Spinal Astrocytoma Resection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
by Harry Hoang, Amine Mellal, Milad Dulloo, Ryan T. Nguyen, Neil Nazar Al-Saidi, Hamzah Magableh, Alexis Cailleteau, Abdul Karim Ghaith, Victor Gabriel El-Hajj and Adrian Elmi-Terander
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(12), 1226; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14121226 - 4 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1141
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Spinal astrocytomas (SA) represent 30–40% of all intramedullary spinal cord tumors (IMSCTs) and present significant clinical challenges due to their aggressive behavior and potential for recurrence. We aimed to pool the evidence on SA and investigate predictors of regrowth or recurrence after [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Spinal astrocytomas (SA) represent 30–40% of all intramedullary spinal cord tumors (IMSCTs) and present significant clinical challenges due to their aggressive behavior and potential for recurrence. We aimed to pool the evidence on SA and investigate predictors of regrowth or recurrence after surgical resection. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted on peer-reviewed human studies from several databases covering the field of SA. Data were collected including sex, age, tumor location, extent of resection, histopathological diagnosis, and adjuvant therapy to identify predictors of SA recurrence. Recurrence was defined as failure of local tumor control or regrowth after treatment. Results: A total of 53 studies with 1365 patients were included in the meta-analysis. A postoperative deterioration in neurological outcomes, as assessed by the modified McCormick scale, was noted in most of the patients. The overall recurrence rate amounted to 41%. On meta-analysis, high-grade WHO tumors were associated with higher odds of recurrence (OR = 2.65; 95% CI: 1.87, 3.76; p = 0.001). Similarly, GTR was associated with lower odds of recurrence compared to STR (OR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.60; p = 0.0003). Sex (p = 0.5848) and tumor location (p = 0.3693) did not show any significant differences in the odds of recurrence. Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring was described in 8 studies and adjuvant radiotherapy in 41 studies. Conclusions: The results highlight the significant importance of tumor grade and extent of resection in patient prognosis. The role of adjuvant radiotherapy remains unclear, with most studies suggesting no differences in outcomes, with limitations due to potential confounders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Collection Series: Advances in Neuro-Oncology)
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