The immune microenvironment in glioblastoma (GBM) plays a crucial role in tumor progression and response to therapy. Recent studies have utilized advanced techniques to characterize the immune landscape within the central nervous system (CNS). For instance, Sankowski et al. employed multiomic spatial analysis to reveal the diversity of innate immune cells at CNS borders, analyzing over 356,000 transcriptomes from 102 individuals, which highlighted the presence of temporally and spatially restricted CNS-associated macrophage subclasses (ref: Sankowski doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02673-1/). Kirschenbaum et al. introduced Zman-seq, a novel single-cell technology that captures transcriptomic dynamics over time, allowing for the tracking of immune cell states in glioblastoma, thereby providing insights into immune adaptation mechanisms (ref: Kirschenbaum doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.11.032/). Additionally, Obacz et al. demonstrated that IRE1 endoribonuclease signaling promotes myeloid cell infiltration in GBM, indicating that tumor cells exploit the unfolded protein response to enhance their malignant features (ref: Obacz doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/). These findings collectively underscore the complexity of the immune microenvironment in GBM and its implications for therapeutic strategies. Furthermore, Mao et al. explored the potential of CXCL10-upregulated mesenchymal stem cells to reinvigorate T lymphocytes, suggesting a promising immunotherapeutic approach to enhance T-cell activity against GBM (ref: Mao doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2023-007481/).