It is not often that the opportunity arises to do something simple to further brain tumour research, but we’ve news of a study in which many brain tumour patients can take part.

This brain tumour research project with the catchy name ‘MREC – 07/MRC10/11 National Brain Tumour Study’, or more simly, ‘the National Brain Tumour Study or ‘NBT’ is easy to take part in. Read on to find out more…

The purpose of the NBT is to establish a DNA resource from individuals diagnosed with gliomas (brain tumours), so that we can identify new hereditary and/or environmental factors that may increase the risk of developing these brain tumours.

This study aims to collect blood samples from a large series of patients with gliomas for genetic research. This resource will be used to identify and characterise mutations conferring an increased risk of the disease.

Around 5% of patients have a family history of the disease and there is evidence that a greater proportion of relatives have an inherited predisposition. The risk of developing a primary brain tumour in a person with a relative affected with brain cancer is increased by two to three-fold. Although this could be due to shared environmental factors, the only environmental factor that has been established to increase the risk of primary brain tumours thus far is ionising radiation, which is in itself quite rare.

Collecting blood samples from patients with gliomas opens up the possibility of identifying disease causing mutations. Identification of these genes should facilitate early diagnosis and may lead to novel therapeutic approaches. Furthermore, any gene identified may also be involved in the development of other malignancies.

If you are interested then here is a list of the (40!) participating centres. Speak with your clinician if you would like to participate.

To find out more, you can call us on 01983 292405, email hello@brainstrust.org.uk or contact the NBT study coordinators directly at NBTstudy@icr.ac.uk, telephone: 020 8722 4431

This study, along with others, and brain tumour clinical trials, is featured on the brain tumour hub. Visit www.braintumourhub.org.uk for more.