The Brain Tumor Funders Collaborative (BTFC) is a group of funders of brain tumor research, including the American Brain Tumor Association. The group has awarded four grants to collaborative projects focused on improving immunotherapy for primary brain tumors, following a multi-step review process.

The projects cover all types of malignant gliomas, from glioblastoma, low-grade gliomas, and pediatric high-grade gliomas. They are examining a variety of strategies to improve immunotherapies for glioma patients including tumor-specific vaccines, checkpoint inhibitors, and adoptive cell transfer, which is when immune cells are taken out of a patient and “educated” to recognize tumor cells and then put back into the same patient. All of the projects are using a combination of treatments and examining the timing of these treatments in order to find the most effective strategies for patients.

Each grant was awarded in the amount of $750,000 over three years. The projects selected for funding include:

Project Title: Active vaccination and the timing of checkpoint blockade dictate effective immunotherapy for glioblastoma

Project Sponsor: David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Project Manager:  Robert Prins

Project Title: Harnessing the brain tumor immune-microenvironment to enhance therapeutic efficacy

Project Sponsor: McGill University
Project Manager:  Daniela Quail

Project Title: Interrogating anti-tumor T-cells to develop adoptive cell transfer (ACT) Immunotherapy for pediatric high-grade gliomas

Project Sponsor: UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Project Manager:  Gary Kohanbash
Sponsoring Institution: University of California, San Francisco

Project Title: Three dimensional immuno-genomics approach to personalized neoantigen-based immunotherapy

Sponsoring Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Project Manager:  Joseph Costello

The Brain Tumor Funders Collaborative was formed by private foundations and non-profit organizations to pool their resources and become more strategic by focusing their research dollars toward specific therapeutic goals. The BTFC organizations combine this research funding with patient education and advocacy.

Note: The following organizations participate in the BTFC and in this joint funding initiative:

• American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA)
• Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada
• James S. McDonnell Foundation
• Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation
• Sontag Foundation
• Anonymous

Further information about the BTFC and its funding initiative can be found at www.braintumorfunders.org.

For more information on immunotherapy for brain tumors, you can view the ABTA’s Immunotherapy for Brain Tumors Webinar  and Immunotherapy for Pediatric Brain Tumors Webinar on our anytime learning channel.