New immunotherapy clinical trial for incurable brain cancer commences

A UCL-sponsored clinical trial for patients newly diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, has opened at UCLH's National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and Clinical Research Facility, in memory of Baroness Margaret McDonagh.

Led by Dr. Paul Mulholland from UCL Cancer Institute and consultant medical oncologist at UCLH, the Win-Glio trial will recruit 16 patients over an 18-month period.

Patients will receive immunotherapy treatment using the drug ipilimumab, prior to the standard treatment when their immune system is at its strongest.

Following treatment in the trial, patients will go on to have the current standard treatment of surgery where appropriate, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and will receive ongoing monitoring.

This trial follows the NeAT-GLIO clinical trial led by Dr. Mulholland that had to close due to lack of recruitment of patients. However, the one patient recruited to that trial, 43-year-old Ben Trotman, is doing well with no active tumor present on scans more than two-and-half-years on from treatment.

Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP led a fundraising campaign that raised more than £1 million to cover the costs of the new trial, including holding a dinner to celebrate the legacy of her sister, Baroness Margaret McDonagh. She has been on a mission to find a cure for glioblastoma since losing Margaret to the disease in 2023, a campaign started by Margaret herself after her diagnosis.

Dame Siobhain, MP for Mitcham and Morden and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on brain tumors, said, "My beloved sister Margaret was appalled to discover that there had been no advances in brain cancer treatment for decades when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma.

"Changing this was Margaret's final campaign and one that I have continued in her memory. I am so grateful to the many people who knew and respected Margaret who have come together and helped to raise funds and campaign for this new trial that we are calling Margaret's Trial."

Dr. Mulholland said, "When I met Margaret she said to me 'what can I do to support you to cure this disease.' I am incredibly grateful to her and to Siobhain, whose campaigning and fundraising in her sister's memory has led to this new clinical trial opening for patients with this most aggressive form of brain cancer that has such a poor prognosis, with most patients surviving just nine months after diagnosis.

"The crucial element of this trial is that patients will have their immune system boosted by the drug before they have any other treatment, when they are fit and well enough to tolerate the immunotherapy.

"We saw with Ben, the one patient recruited to the NeAT-GLIO immunotherapy study, that he has had clear scans since having the treatment and the tumor hasn't returned more than two and a half years later."

"We're taking everything we have learned from previous trials into this new study and we are already planning follow-on trials. My aim is to find a cure for glioblastoma and I am very thankful to Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP, the Jon Moulton Charity Trust and The National Brain Appeal for their support on this journey."

The National Brain Appeal is currently funding two posts in support of Dr. Mulholland's research, a clinical nurse specialist dedicated to supporting glioblastoma patients at the difficult time of diagnosis and helping them to decide if they wish to enter a clinical trial, and a senior computational biologist, who has a detailed understanding of glioblastoma genetics, works with large, complex data sets and designs computational pipelines that will process and analyze patient samples and research experiments.

Dr. Mulholland added, "Our aim is to rapidly bring about improved outcomes for patients with glioblastoma by bringing together the best science, with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, experimental scientists, bioinformaticians and the pharmaceutical industry. We want to find a cure for this devastating disease."

Treatment will take place at the NIHR UCLH's Clinical Research Facility and at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Patients interested in finding out more about the Win-Glio trial should discuss it with their treating consultant.

Provided by University College London