How the Brainstem Microenvironment Shapes Gliomas in Children
Fast facts
- Title: Exploring the significance of the pontine brain microenvironment in shaping paediatric glioma invasive properties
- Lead Researcher: Dr Maria Alieva
- Where: Biomedical Research Institute Sols-Morreale, Madrid
- When: March 2025-February 2028
- Cost: We will fund £77,700 (total grant award £200,275, with Worldwide Cancer Research) over 3 years
- Research type: Paediatric, High-grade, Glioma
Diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) are a rare but particularly aggressive type of childhood brain tumour that spread fast and currently have no cure. We urgently need to understand more about how these tumours develop so that in the future better treatments are available to help children with DMG.
Research suggests that the area of the brain where DMGs start, called the pontine region, plays a big role in driving how these tumours progress, but the specifics about which components of this region are involved, and how the tumours are caused, remain a mystery. Dr Alieva hopes to answer these questions about the development of DMG so that new treatments can be developed for this devastating disease.
What is it?
Dr Maria Alieva and her team in Spain are investigating how DMG starts and spreads. By better understanding how the tumour environment influences cancer development she hopes to find clues towards vital new cures.
Your brainstem connects your brain to your spinal cord, allowing messages to flow from your brain to the rest of your body and back again. The biggest part of the brainstem is called the pontine region and this is where diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) originate. Dr Alieva will investigate the pontine region and explore how cells here influence these tumours developing.
Dr Alieva has assembled an incredible interdisciplinary team of experts in imaging, DMG models, and computational analysis and together they will learn how the environment in the pontine region causes DMGs to be especially invasive. The team will use advanced imaging techniques to track the movement of tumour cells and use small lab-grown versions of DMGs to visualize the cells surrounding the tumours in the pontine region. All thanks to you, they will gain more in-depth knowledge than ever before about how DMGs progress.
Why is it important?
The more we understand about how DMG starts and spreads, the better we can advance new ways to stop it. The average survival for DMG patients is currently less than one year, so Dr Alieva hopes to make breakthroughs towards new treatments that will improve outcomes and ensure fewer lives are cut short.
-Dr Maria Alieva
I believe our work could provide valuable insights that bring us closer to more effective treatments, especially personalised ones. As we learn more about cancer, it becomes clear that it’s not just one disease but thousands of different forms, each requiring a unique approach. I’m hopeful that with this deeper understanding, we’ll be able to find the key to more targeted treatments that can truly make a difference for each patient.
Research is just one other way your regular gift can make a difference
Research is the only way we will discover kinder, more effective treatments and, ultimately, stamp out brain tumours – for good! However, brain tumours are complex and research in to them takes a great deal of time and money.
Across the UK, over 100,000 families are facing the overwhelming diagnosis of a brain tumour and it is only through the generosity of people like you can we continue to help them.
But, by setting up a regular gift – as little as £2 per month – you can ensure that families no longer face this destructive disease.
In this section
Dr Maria Alieva
Dr Maria Alieva is an interdisciplinary scientist known for her work in translational oncology, computational science and imaging. She is Head of her independent research group at the Biomedical Research Institute Sols-Morreale CSIC-UAM. Her work focuses on biomedical image analysis and data integration, and aims to improve cell therapies against cancer through innovative imaging and data integration techniques.