Scientists at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London are undergoing innovative work that may bring us closer to personalised treatment for patients with high-grade gliomas, such as glioblastoma.
Working in collaboration with Barts Brain Tumour Centre, as many as 200 newly diagnosed patients with suspected high-grade glioma who are being treated at Barts Health in London will be enrolled in a study over the next five years. During the study, patients will have their healthy cells compared with cancerous ones.
An innovative technique used in the trial is detailed in a paper published today in BMC Biology, led by Silvia Marino, Professor of Neuropathology at Queen Mary.
In cells, chromatin wraps around the DNA, controlling gene activity by condensing or loosening the DNA itself, blocking or allowing access to genes and effectively turning them off or on. This process is crucially different in glioblastoma cells when compared to normal brain cells, providing a new way to detect genes activated specifically in the tumour cells, which could be targeted by new or repurposed drugs.
Professor Marino said: “Brain tumour cells have a different combination of genes that are turned on or off when compared to healthy brain cells – a combination that is unique from patient to patient. The research in this paper has increased our understanding of one of the methods that controls the activation of these genes and has demonstrated that we can use it to find new gene targets, potentially opening up new personalised treatment options for patients.”
You can read the paper, published today in BMC Biology, in full here.
These latest findings are the culmination of a decade of work funded by Brain Tumour Research. You can help us continue to make these advances by making a donation. However big or small, with continued investment into research for brain tumours, together we will find a cure.
Related reading:
- Man with terminal brain tumour enrolled on trial – BBC
- Trial offer hope to patients with deadly brain tumours – Mail Online
- Our Centres of Excellence
- How you can help find a cure
Published Friday 7th February 2025.