Screening of Hyp-PDT induced ICD-sensitive GBM Immunophenotype and Exploration of Synergetic Effect of Sonodynamic Therapy in GBM Immunotherapy

The research is to aim to establish an immunological stratification based on an in depth research addressing the multi-modal immunological profile of GBM patients, which allows a rational and proper assignment of GBM patients with highest probability of responding to an adjustable, personalized tumor vaccine in a future clinical trial. Especially the natural propensity or susceptibility to different types of immunogenic cell death is expected to be a major stratification parameter. A newly, upcoming therapy, called sonotherapy ( ultrasound based induced opening of the blood brain barrier and modulation of the immune microenvironment ) will be investigated in a phase III clinical trial at UZ Leuven starting in 2021. The ICD inducing capacities of sonodynamic therapies will be a subject of investigation in the second half of the PhD trajectory.