#brain tumours

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Tumours and Seizures

Seizures – a sudden excessive brain activity changing behaviour – are commonly triggered in patients with brain tumours, but why has been unclear. Here, looking at features, including synaptic activity (connecting to other neurons) and gene expression, of pyramidal neurons around brain tumours differences are found between patients with and without seizures. Using a mouse model, alterations in neurons called paroxysmal depolarizing shifts were identified as a potential biomarker for seizure risk

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Bibi L. J. Bouwen and colleagues

Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, December 2025

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People always worry that their headaches are actually brain tumors. I was convinced my brain tumor was actually just a headache.

Geraldine Deruiter

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Diffuse Astrocytic Tumours

Grading based on 4 features:

Nuclear atypia

Mitoses

Microvascular proliferation

Necrosis

WHO Grades

Grade 1 tumours: infiltrating astrocytomas (not diffuse).

Grade 2 Diffuse Astrocytoma: looks like ill-defined intra-axial masses that are grey to gelatinous. On micro tumour cells aggregate near neurons and vessels. No mitosis, microvascular proliferation or necrosis.

Grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma: looks like grade 2 AND has mitoses. No microvascular proliferation or necrosis.

Grade 4 Glioblastoma (GBM): has mitoses, microvascular proliferation and necrosis (look for palisading necrosis). Is the most malignant of all the astrocytomas.

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Undividing Attention

Since cancers arise when cells divide uncontrollably, you might think the one part of a tumour we don’t need to worry about is a group of cells that aren’t dividing. But recent research has suggested that these ‘senescent’ cells might be important to cancer development and a potential target for treatments. Researchers investigated senescent cells in glioblastomas – deadly brain tumours – in mice and human samples (extracted mouse glioblastoma cells pictured on an artificial matrix for growth and experimentation). Senescent cells make up less than 7% of the tumours, but removal of them resulted in improved survival of mice. With further experiments they identified a key protein, NRF2, coordinating senescence and found similar gene expression in these cells in mouse and human tumours. Cancers with a higher proportion of senescent cells are associated with shorter survival times, and new approaches targeting senescence could supplement existing treatments, improving the prognosis for patients.

March is Brain Tumour Awareness Month

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Rana Salam and Alexa Saliou, and colleagues Isabelle Le Roux Lab

Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, Genetics and Development of Brain Tumors Team, Paris, France

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Research published in Nature Communications, January 2023

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Seen in 3D

Life, at every scale, is complex and three-dimensional. So research that only looks at biological processes in two-dimensional models will often miss important details relevant to real life. This is particularly true for research into gliomas – a type of brain tumour. To overcome these limitations, researchers developed a 3D-engineered scaffold on which to grow cells for examination and experimentation. The team implanted tumour cells derived from patients on the scaffold, and found they successfully colonised the structure (pictured). The cells were more similar to tumour cells in the body than those cultured on 2D surfaces tend to be, it was easier to monitor the growth of individual cells, and the population was more stable. The scaffolds could therefore be used to closely study the natural behaviour of tumour cells – hopefully spotting any weaknesses for new treatments to target – and be a platform to test the impact of potential anti-cancer drugs.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Video from work by Nastaran Barin and colleagues

Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, & Department of Neurology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Small, October 2022

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Counter Communication

When a phone scammer calls you, their goal is to keep you talking, as that flow of communication gives them a chance to weasel in and trick you. Exploiting communication is also how incurable brain tumours called glioblastomas spread so fast, forming direct links, synapses, with our neurons (brain cells). Researchers hunting for new treatments investigated these synapses in more detail, and asked whether genetic tweaks to subdue their activity might slow tumour growth. Synapses are tiny gaps between cells, across which chemical messages pass in small packages. The study showed increased accumulation of this message material (green) in the brains of fruit flies with glioblastoma (right) compared to normal flies (left), but that down-regulating activity on either side of the synapse slowed tumour growth. Synaptic connections both between glioblastoma cells and joining them with neurons are key to the cancer development, and could be targets for future treatments.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by María Losada-Pérez and colleagues

Instituto Cajal-CSIC, Madrid, Spain

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Genetics, July 2022

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DNA Delivery Vehicle

Our brains are precious. They make up so much of who we are. So it’s understandable that they’re protected by an armour called the blood-brain barrier (BBB) allowing nourishment of the brain while preventing other traffic. But this protective layer can quickly become an obstacle when you need to treat an aggressive brain tumour like a glioblastoma. Not only can it keep pathogens out, but it can block drugs from entering too. In the search for a way to deliver anti-cancer drugs straight to the tumour, researchers have used DNA as a building block and designed tiny nanotubes (pictured). These hollow tubes were intravenously injected into mice, passed through the BBB and internalised preferentially by the tumour cells. The nanotubes managed to deliver an anti-cancer drug directly to the tumour and enhance survival. This DNA nanotechnology is paving the way towards more successful deliveries of much-needed treatment to help these cancer patients.

Written by Sophie Arthur

Image from work by Michael A. Harris and colleagues

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, December 2021

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A Clear Mind

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Brain surgery is, as you might expect, difficult. Brain scans – images that reveal the structures inside our skulls – have been used to pinpoint problems and plan surgery for decades, but flat, monochromatic images can only tell you so much. 3D printing technology allows a different type of visualisation, and a new study has examined the production process to test whether patient-specific models can be rapidly produced to better prepare surgeons. The study produced transparent models, with key anatomical features coloured (pictured, with a tumour shown red alongside other highlighted structures). The models’ soft, brain-like texture let neurosurgeons simulate procedures before taking to the real thing. Printing could be done in four days and proved valuable in ten simulated clinical situations, particularly to surgeons with less experience. This rapid production could be embedded into common practice for neurosurgery, to help make brain surgery a little less daunting.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Yun-Sik Dho and colleagues

Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Scientific Reports, March 2021

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