Glioblastoma is the most common high-grade brain tumour in adults, with around 3,200 people diagnosed in the UK each year. Despite decades of research, treatment options have changed very little since the early 2000s. For most patients, treatment involves surgery, radiotherapy and a chemotherapy treatment known as temozolomide (TMZ), yet the tumour almost always returns. Survival is still measured in months rather than years.
That’s why Brain Tumour Research is investing in multiple research programmes focused on glioblastoma. From uncovering the earliest signs of tumour recurrence to developing new drugs and personalising treatment, our researchers are tackling this devastating disease from every angle.
As we mark Glioblastoma Awareness Week, here are five ways we are working to change the story for patients with this devastating tumour type.
1. Developing new drugs and getting them closer to clinical trials
We desperately need to find new treatments for glioblastoma, but moving promising discoveries from the laboratory into patient trials remains a major challenge.
The Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, based across the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and funded through a game-changing collaboration between Brain Tumour Research and Glasgow-based Beatson Cancer Charity, is focused on bridging this gap. The Centre brings together the UK's largest group of glioblastoma researchers to identify and develop new therapies, generate the evidence needed for clinical trials and attract investment into future treatment development.
Researchers are investigating a range of approaches, including drug discovery, gene therapy and new ways to target the biological processes that drive tumour growth. Importantly, they are also working on developing treatments that can cross the blood-brain barrier, the brain's natural defence system that prevents many medicines from reaching tumour cells.
By focusing on the difficult but critical step between laboratory discovery and patient testing, the Scottish team is helping create a stronger pipeline of future treatments for glioblastoma patients.
2. Improving how we test new treatments in the laboratory
Most cancer drugs that look promising in the laboratory never make it to patients. One reason is that traditional laboratory models often fail to accurately reflect the complexity of real tumours.
Researchers at our Scottish Centre of Excellence are working to change that. They already have a world-leading platform for testing potential treatments and are making it even more sophisticated.
The team is developing laboratory models that more closely resemble the tumours seen in patients, including incorporating the changes that occur following chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as the immune cells that influence tumour behaviour and treatment response.
These improved models should provide a far more realistic picture of how new therapies will perform in patients, helping researchers identify the most promising treatments earlier and increasing the chances of success in future clinical trials.
3. Using AI and advanced brain imaging to stop glioblastoma returning
One of the biggest challenges in glioblastoma treatment is recurrence. Following surgery, tiny numbers of cancer cells remain in the brain and eventually result in the tumour growing back.
At our Centre of Excellence at the University of Nottingham, researchers are undertaking a world-first study where they are combining advanced brain imaging, genomic analysis and artificial intelligence (AI), to detect the earliest biological signs that a tumour is returning and predict suitable treatments.
The team is analysing tissue taken from the very edges of the tumour during surgery alongside detailed brain scans, looking for patterns that reveal when and where recurrence is likely to happen. Their goal is to reach a point where brain scans alone can identify treatments tailored to an individual patient before the tumour grows back.
If successful, this work could help doctors intervene earlier and offer more personalised treatments designed to prevent recurrence before it takes hold.
4. Making radiotherapy more effective
Radiotherapy remains one of the cornerstones of glioblastoma treatment, but glioblastoma tumours are more able to repair the damage to their DNA caused by radiation than most other cancers, allowing the cancerous cells to survive and grow back.
Researchers at our Centre of Excellence at Imperial College London are investigating a promising way to tackle this problem. Their work focuses on a drug called ADI-PEG 20, a treatment that removes a nutrient that some glioblastoma cells rely on to survive called arginine.
The team is exploring how arginine deprivation can weaken glioblastoma's DNA repair systems, making tumour cells more vulnerable to radiation. Their research suggests that the treatment reduces the activity of important DNA repair genes, helping radiotherapy cause greater damage to cancer cells.
The team hopes that combining arginine deprivation with radiotherapy, or other DNA-damaging treatments, could help overcome radiotherapy resistance and improve outcomes for patients.
5. Predicting which treatments will work for each individual patient
No two glioblastomas are exactly alike. A treatment that works for one patient may be ineffective for another, which is one reason so many clinical trials have struggled to improve outcomes for all.
At our Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London, researchers are developing a personalised approach to treatment. They have created an innovative platform that compares healthy and cancerous cells from the same patient, allowing them to identify the genes driving tumour growth in each individual case.
To help bring this research into the clinic, our Centre at Queen Mary and Barts Brain Tumour Centre are running a five-year study involving up to 200 newly-diagnosed patients where they will be analysing each patient's tumour in order to predict which existing or repurposed drugs are most likely to work before treatment begins.
The long-term vision is a future where treatment decisions are guided by the unique biology of each person's tumour, giving patients the best possible chance of benefiting from therapy.
Looking ahead
Glioblastoma remains one of the toughest cancers to treat, but progress is being made. Across our Centres of Excellence, researchers are uncovering new vulnerabilities in tumour cells, developing better models for testing treatments, improving existing therapies and working towards truly personalised medicine.
There is still much more to do, but every discovery brings us closer to a future where a glioblastoma diagnosis no longer carries such devastating consequences.
You can help support this work and our work to find a cure for all types of brain tumours by donating to our Glioblastoma Awareness Week appeal. Every pound helps fund the fight. Click here to find out more.
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