Researchers at Frenchay Hospital are studying new ways in which the most effective chemotherapy treatment could be given to the patients most likely to benefit.  The latest technology is being used to analyse brain tumours and identify which people are most susceptible to chemotherapy.  If successful, these malignant tumours could be targeted immediately with a combination of chemotherapy drugs which can shrink the tumours, improve quality of life and prolong survival.

North Bristol NHS Trust has secured a £12,000 donation from the local ‘Hammer Out’ brain tumour charity to continue with the project.  The funding will provide DNA extraction kits and other materials for analysing around 250 brain biopsies and blood samples a year from consenting patients, for the next three years.  Staff are working to discover better ways of spotting tumours where missing chromosomes leave the disease more vulnerable to particular chemotherapies.  The focus will be on primary brain tumours – those which arise within the brain rather than those that have spread to the brain from elsewhere in the body.  Around 5,000 new cases of primary brain tumour occur in the UK each year.

Professor Seth Love, of the Directorate of Neurosciences at Frenchay Hospital, is confident the tests will eventually help to prolong patient survival.  He said: “The results of our research will be of huge importance to both patients and the staff who manage their care.”

There is strong evidence from recent studies that the deletion of certain chromosome segments can predict sensitivity to procarbazine, CCNU and vincristine (PCV) chemotherapy.  In patients with favourable chromosome analysis, some tumours have disappeared completely after tripe agent chemotherapy and prolonged survival can be achieved.

With the support of an earlier grant, the team has developed a set of tests to guide local neuro-oncologists in treatment.  The new funding will allow the team to establish a framework for using these tests in clinical practice, and to assess the impact on their clinical results.  The principal aims will be to ensure that all patients with susceptible tumours are offered the opportunity of chemotherapy, whilst other patients avoid the side-effects of these drugs and cab be offered alternative forms of treatment without delay.  Laboratory work involves the separate extraction of tumour tissue and constitutional DNA, the latter usually from a blood sample.  The paternally and maternally inherited copies of the relevant chromosome are then examined to see if there are any missing markers.

Dr Kirsten Hopkins added: “We are enormously grateful to the ‘Hammer Out’ charity for its support of this work. “Frenchay is already a regional centre of excellence for its treatment of patients with brain tumours, but new ideas for treating this disease are badly needed.  “This is vital work which could – if successful – help in the development of of a national framework for the assessment and treatment of these patients throughout the NHS.  “We already have the scientific background and understanding – now we must push the boundaries still further.”

Tina Mitchell, Chairman of Hammer Out, said: “We are delighted to be able to help continue the valuable research being carried out at Frenchay Hospital as the programme we are funding will help to guide the treatment of present and future patients. We hope that in some small way our passion for brain tumour research and commitment to the hospital will help to push those boundaries and we are extremely proud to be associated with this vital work.”