Improving the effectiveness of treatments for a specific type of brain tumour.

A vestibular schwannoma (VS) is a tumour that develops on the nerve responsible for hearing and balance, located at the base of the brain.

These tumours usually appear on one side of the body (known as sporadic VS), but can also occur on both sides in people with a genetic condition called NF2-related Schwannomatosis (NF2-SWN).

The most common symptoms include hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears), but as the tumour grows, it can press on other important nerves around the brainstem, causing more severe symptoms. In some cases, if the tumour becomes large enough, it can pose a risk to life.

Why funding is needed

£100,000 will allow us to continue this critical research, enabling us to develop and test imaging methods that can predict which patients with sporadic or NF2-SWN-related vestibular schwannomas will benefit from radiotherapy or Avastin.

Currently, there is no way to predict who will respond to these treatments. We hope that our work will lead to a reliable test that can identify the patients who are most likely to benefit from these therapies.

How researchers are trying to make treatment more effective

Current treatments for growing VS include surgery and a type of targeted radiotherapy called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), which uses a focused beam of radiation to stop the tumour from growing. For tumours linked to NF2-related Schwannomatosis, a drug called Avastin, which targets the blood vessels feeding the tumour, can also be used.

At the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, pioneering research has shown that inflammation and the growth of new blood vessels (called angiogenesis) play a key role in the growth of VS. Our team has also discovered that we can use special imaging techniques to detect this inflammation and angiogenesis in the tumour.

Recent studies, carried out in collaboration with researchers from around the world, have demonstrated that a particular type of MRI scan can help predict whether a VS will grow. We are now looking to find out if these imaging tests can also predict which patients will respond well to treatments like SRS and Avastin.