Pioneering research into brain cancer at UCL has been given a boost thanks to £4.7m new funding from Cancer Research UK.
The announcement will support the Cancer Research UK Glioma Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence, a collaboration between UCL and the University of Edinburgh, whose work aims to better understand the disease and find new treatments.
Around 12,700 people are diagnosed with a brain, central nervous system or intracranial tumour in the UK each year. With almost 2 in 10 surviving their disease for 5 years or more, finding new ways to tackle this type of cancer crucial.
The Centre of Excellence was set up in 2018 with the aim of changing the landscape for adult and children's gliomas.
Gliomas are cancerous brain tumours which start in glial cells, the supporting cells of the brain and spinal cord. A particularly devastating type of glioma is a glioblastoma, which currently has few treatment options, and which the researchers are particularly focused on finding new solutions for. Brain tumours have a low survival rate with little progress made in improving treatments over the last 50 years.
While children's cancer survival has doubled in the last 50 years, there has been little progress for youngsters with brain tumours.
The new funding will allow the centre to focus on gaining a deeper understanding of what causes brain tumours to begin, to grow and how they become resistant to treatment as well as develop new treatments.
Professor Simona Parinello (UCL Cancer Institute), co-lead of the CRUK Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence at UCL, said: "We are very excited that this award will allow us to probe more deeply the biology of gliomas and identify new approaches to treatment."
Professor Tariq Enver (UCL Cancer Institute), Co-Director of the CRUK City of London Centre, said: "Gliomas remain a major challenge to treatment. We are excited about this new award which will bring new talented minds from different disciplines to the field."
A further £3.2m will go to the Children's Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence at the University of Cambridge and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, where the focus is on brain tumours which specifically affect children and young people.
Dr Catherine Elliott, Director of Research at Cancer Research UK, said: "Brain tumour survival remains low and has changed little in over a generation which is why this cancer of unmet need is a key priority for Cancer Research UK.
"Progress has been made but more needs to be done to find new and better ways to tackle this devastating cancer.
"New treatments can't come soon enough for both adults and children with brain tumours, so we're delighted to be sharing this positive news during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month."
