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By Dr Anke Brüning-Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Biomedicine and YBTC Trustee
Day 1. Travelling to Glasgow
I am currently on my way to attend EANO, the biggest European Neuro-oncology meeting; over 1,200 researchers, clinicians, health professionals, charity members, and of course patients are attending this meeting to learn about the newest developments in brain tumour research, treatment, diagnosis, patient care and mental well-being associated with a brain tumour diagnosis. As I am sitting on the train to Glasgow I am very excited about three days packed full of talks and the opportunity to present our work at this meeting. Networking is also high on my list of priorities as combined efforts will make the biggest difference for patients.
I look back over a year of productivity in my laboratory and the hard work by my undergraduate and postgraduate students some of which I will be presenting. I want to showcase our newest findings on drugs that can prevent the spread of brain tumour cells that remain after surgery and that we believe are responsible for the regrowing of the tumour. We have identified a group of proteins that are directly involved in these processes and could either be new drug targets or will aid clinicians in identifying patients that may be at a higher risk of a faster regrowth than patients that have only little of these proteins. And even though my focus will be on the science and the opportunity to meet like-minded researchers, I am mindful of the reason of why I will be attending this meeting – to tackle a ruthless disease for which outcome has not improve over the years. Before I set off, I had the opportunity to meet members of the Yorkshire Brain Tumour charity (for whom I act proudly as a trustee) ranging from volunteers, fundraisers, ambassadors, public engagement workers, the CEO and of course service users, and I was immensely touched and humbled by how well we all interacted and the joy we had during this meeting despite the sad reason for the existence of the charity. I will talk to my colleagues and other researchers at the conference to ‘talk science’, but in the back of my mind will be that day; and my determination to make a difference for those affected by this disease.
Day 2
So here I am. Excited about the day ahead. I The day is packed with many interesting lectures, seminars and the poster session. I tried to cover a whole range of talks. Many are related to the most current trends in brain tumour research, ie immobilising the immune response to fight brain tumours, on-going clinical trials and outcomes, new research leads in different types of brain tumours that improve the activity of chemotherapeutics (drugs) or radiotherapy and improve diagnosis. There was a call for research to be more inclusive, taking the anatomy of the brain into account, symptoms of patients, interaction of the cancer cells with normal brain cells and the areas of normal brain tissue, as well as down to the activity within single brain tumour cells.
I was very heartened to see a lot of research on the direct physiological and psychological effects of brain tumours not only on the patients but also on their carers. There were many surveys which all indicate the huge emotional burden shared by both ‘target groups’ and the importance of mental wellbeing after a brain tumour diagnosis. Information and active support were highlighted as needing attention as patients and carers appeared left to their own devices after initial diagnosis, which was highlighted in some of the surveys presented. I also made valuable contacts today, with new collaborations leading to exchange of ideas, reagents and potential partnerships for further research.
In the afternoon, I found the place which had been assigned to my poster and was I present for 1 ½ hours to answer questions about my work from the audience. There were 100+ posters in my session ranging from basic science, to treatments, diagnosis, patient well-being and carer surveys. When I least expected it, further collaborative opportunities presented themselves - as I stood waiting for people to arrive for the poster sessions, I literally started chatting to the person presenting his poster next to me during the poster session and besides turning out to be a great person and scientist (and German!) to talk to he also turned out to have had worked on research aligned to my own and introducing me to a colleague with whom I can collaborate. A plus to be able to speak German on this occasion!
Day 3
Another day fully packed with research, clinical trials, science of rare brain tumours, patient and carer concerns and well-being. I attended a meeting highlighting work especially from young, international students, and it was heartening to see how much upcoming talent there is among these people. A question and answer session about the last 30 years of EANO and research outcome was sobering. The panel agreed that on the surface it seemed that there had not been progress (especially in terms of patient survival) despite of novel targets and drug development; however, it was pointed out that we know so much more about brain tumours (but we need to know much more) and that especially surgery and pathology of brain tumours had greatly improved. Whereas patients took a long time to recover from surgery, commonly used surgical procedures nowadays usually allow patients to be out of hospital and mobile within days. There was also the sense that we should be more focussing on individual patients rather than the disease; especially also trying to understand what makes a few patients different to have survival rates of 5 years and beyond. Interestingly this seems to be more pronounced in women, so perhaps there is also a sex-linked characteristic in brain tumours. Although it does make me angry and sad that while survival has not drastically improved for brain tumour patients it has so for other cancer types, for example breast cancer, and it makes me wonder if we also need to have more concerted efforts on early diagnosis. There is currently no efficient and definite early diagnosis and detection for brain tumours; perhaps we need to pay much more attention to what patients with non-specific symptoms such as headaches or unexplained mobility issues are saying. A collection of symptoms reported to GPs and health professionals that should be followed up rather than ascribed to other illnesses or ailments. Now that I am heading home, I feel my gain from this meeting is communicating my science to other researchers, establishing further links with scientists and clinicians, which will lead to research opportunities and crucially access to rare and valuable patient samples and learning what others are doing. This certainly has enriched my own knowledge of brain tumours and the work that is being carried out in the field. It leaves me inspired to make a difference for brain tumour patients, so we finally see an improvement in the outcome of this devastating disease.
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