Glutamate Dysfunction in Gliomas, V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development of translational biomarkers of glutamate dysfunction in brain tumour related epilepsy
IRAS ID
219855
Contact name
Mark Cunningham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 17 days
Research summary
Seizures are a frequent and serious problem for patients with brain tumours and are often not controlled with current best medical and surgical treatments. There are approximately 4,000 new cases of patients certain type of brain tumour in the UK each year. Many of these patients suffer from ongoing seizures due to the resistance of the tumours associated seizures to anti-convulsant drugs. A better understanding of the mechanisms of how seizures associated with brain tumours arise will ultimately lead to the generation of better anti-convulsant drugs to treat these seizures. In this study we want to look a number of factors that could explain the underlying mechanisms of these seizures. This study, supported by Medical Research Council, will look at specific changes in the brains of patients with tumour associated seizures. We will use non-invasive techniques to measure the electrical excitability of the brain and measure the levels of transmitter that causes excitation to occur. This pilot observational case-control study will test and compare a group of patients consisting of individuals with a certain type of brain tumour (glioma) who exhibit or do not exhibit seizures. The outcome of this research will help us to develop non-invasive markers to evaluate how good new treatments will be in terms of reducing seizures in patients with brain tumours.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NE/0236
Date of REC Opinion
7 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion