Low-grade brain tumours affect thousands of people in the UK every year. These tumours, which include meningioma, glioma and schwannoma, are slow-growing, but cause life-changing symptoms and uncertainty. Despite their significant impact, treatment options are limited. Surgery – the most common treatment method – carries significant risks, especially when tumours are close to nerves or areas that control movement, speech, or balance.
To change this, Brain Tumour Research is set to award a £2.8 million funding boost to our Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth. An investment that is furthering our understanding of how low-grade brain tumours develop and transforming that knowledge into life-changing therapies.
Leading this ambitious programme is Professor David Parkinson (below centre), the newly-appointed Centre Director. Under Prof Parkinson’s leadership, scientists, clinicians and experts from multiple disciplines are working together to improve outcomes for patients and offering renewed hope to families affected by brain tumours.
The renewed investment comes after a decade of world-class research funded by Brain Tumour Research at the University of Plymouth. After the first three years of this new award, the Centre will undergo an expert review designed to track progress and strengthen its impact for the remaining two years of the grant.
How will this funding get us closer to a cure for low-grade brain tumours?
The research taking place at the Plymouth Centre is built around three interconnected themes which will see scientists accelerate progress from laboratory research to clinical trials for brain tumour patients.
Theme one: Understanding tumour biology
The research team is investigating what goes wrong in cells to cause tumours to grow, escape the immune system and develop resistance to drugs. They’re asking questions such as:
- What triggers glioma tumours to start growing?
- How do glioma cells become dormant to evade treatment?
- How can we stop brain tumours from hiding from the immune system?
- Could cutting off a meningioma’s energy supply slow its growth?
Theme two: Testing new treatments
Turning discoveries into treatments is at the heart of the Centre’s work. The research team is testing potential medicines, including repurposing drugs already used for other diseases, to see if they can stop tumour growth or make existing treatments, such as radiotherapy, more effective.
They’re asking questions such as:
- Can combining radiotherapy with certain blood cancer drugs help overcome radiotherapy resistance in aggressive meningioma?
- Could combining chemotherapy with new drugs improve treatment for IDH-mutant gliomas?
- Could drugs being tested for cancer elsewhere in the body - designed to target proteins on the surface of cells - also provide a new, less invasive way to treat meningioma and schwannoma?
- Can new drugs disrupt the growth of NF2-related tumours? (formerly known as Neurofibromatosis type 2)
The team has already progressed some treatments into clinical trial, having launched a trial to test whether anti-retroviral drugs, originally developed for HIV, could help people with NF2 – a rare condition that causes multiple brain tumours.
Theme three: Building world-class resources
Behind every breakthrough is a wealth of data and patient samples. The Plymouth Biobank is a vital resource – housing tumour samples, blood, health information and genetic data. Developed in close collaboration with clinicians and patients, this resource enables world-class research and accelerates the development of treatments that could transform lives.
Advancing research into high-grade brain tumours
With this new funding and the appointment of talented co-leads, Dr Mahmoud Labib and Dr Ming Li, the Centre is now advancing research into higher-grade gliomas. These aggressive tumours carry a devastating prognosis and limited treatment options, with survival often measured in months.
Alongside Dr Claudia Barros, the team is working to understand how these tumours evade the immune system and how we could block the signals that drive their growth and survival.
- Professor Ming Li’s team is investigating proteins that help the body fight infections and influence tumour behaviour, paving the way for new glioma treatments
- Dr Mahmoud Labib’s lab is studying the genes that control molecules that help tumours grow and hide from the immune system, aiming to block these pathways
- Dr Claudia Barros’s lab is testing drugs to enhance chemotherapy and prevent tumours from resisting treatment
Your support makes breakthroughs possible. By donating today, you’ll help fund pioneering research at our Centre of Excellence in Plymouth – research that is unlocking new treatments and, ultimately, cures for brain tumours. Please donate what you can today and help fund the fight against this devastating disease.
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