SCIENTISTS in Scotland are set to take part in groundbreaking research to help develop new brain tumour treatment.
Experts in Edinburgh will receive £3.7 million over the next five years to carry out cutting-edge research using samples taken from patients' tumours during surgery. These samples will be used to grow brain tumour cells under laboratory conditions to study the faulty molecules that underpin the disease.
This will help them discover better ways to treat and diagnose brain tumours, which still have poor survival rates.
Dr Steve Pollard, the lead scientist for the study, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this grant from Cancer Research UK to help further our understanding of brain tumours.
“Whilst survival for many types of cancer has improved dramatically over the last 40 years, tackling brain tumours remains a real challenge and they take the lives of far too many people each year.
“The vital investment in this study is crucial to help us understand the biology of brain tumours and find new and better ways to treat them.
“We are committed to improving the outlook for people with brain tumours and their loved ones and hope to ensure more people survive this devastating disease.”
Meanwhile, researchers from the Cancer Research UK Glasgow Centre will be collaborating with scientists across the UK to expand the first national post-mortem cancer study following a £4m cash boost.
Doctors will invite terminally ill patients – most of whom are taking part in clinical trials – to donate blood and tissue samples of their cancer after their death. They will be asked to discuss the issue with their families, before deciding to be part of this pioneering research, which aims to understand how cancer changes and evolves in advanced stages of the disease.
The findings will be used to help develop better treatments for cancer that has spread.
Professor Iain McNeish, one of the lead researchers at the Glasgow centre, said: “The vital investment in this study will help us complete the whole cancer picture – from diagnosis to end of life – which we need to understand how the disease changes and evolves over time. It’s these changes which make the cancer difficult to treat because it can stop responding to treatment."
Researchers in Glasgow will join forces with scientists from Leicester, Belfast, Cambridge, Manchester and London to roll out the study.
Gathering tissue samples is vital for understanding the evolution and final stages of cancer and the genetics of certain tumours that are hard for doctors to take samples from when patients are alive, like brain tumours.
The scientists will be able to study how tumours develop and spread in advanced cancer, how and why tumours become resistant to treatment and how the body reacts to the disease during the final stages, as well as looking at potential ways to boost the immune system to fight cancer.
Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director for research funding at Cancer Research UK, said: “Effective partnerships are crucial for delivering the greatest science and boosting advancements in fighting cancer.
“We’re excited to be investing in collaborative and innovative research in Glasgow and across the UK. It’s by working together and uniting expertise that we will accelerate cutting-edge research and save more lives.”
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