Glioma Invasion in the Human Brain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mechanisms of Glioma Invasion in the Human Brain
IRAS ID
280746
Contact name
Simona Parrinello
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2020/05/67, Data protection
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Gliomas are the commonest type of intrinsic brain tumours. They can cause significant physical and cognitive impairment. Many subtypes of gliomas are fatal and even with maximal surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy the more aggressive forms have average survival times of less that 18 months. One of the major challenges in curing gliomas is their inevitable tendency to spread throughout the brain. The brain is a rich environment for tumours and even after an apparently complete surgical removal remaining cells will migrate to different areas of the brain where they seed and cause tumour recurrence.
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms that glioma tumour cells use to spread and invade surrounding brain tissue is vital to controlling the disease and developing new treatments. Unfortunately, there has been limited research undertaken to investigate this crucial area using live human tissue. Most studies to date use animal tissue models and immortalised cell lines purified away from their surrounding brain tissue (tumour cells kept alive in culture over a long period of time) which do not fully represent the biology of a human brain or disease.
This study will take excess tissue obtained during surgical removal of glioma brain tumours that would otherwise be wasted and maintain it as a live culture for a limited period in the laboratory Following culture, the tissue will be fixed and processed for histology. Alternatively, invading cells will be purified from live tissue and subjected to molecular analysis. This tissue will be used to explore how tumour cells invade normal brain.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
20/WA/0251
Date of REC Opinion
3 Sep 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion