BIRN (Biomedical Informatics Research Network) Resources Facilitate the Personalization of Malignant Brain Tumor
Condition: GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME; Brain Neoplasm
MeSH terms: Glioblastoma; Brain Neoplasms
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      The goal of this study is to create a comprehensive database of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
      (MRI) and of pathology for patients with brain tumors. Both standard, advanced, and research
      MRI components may be included, these will be analyzed in comparison with pathology results
      if/when a biopsy is obtained, and also used to predict/evaluate responses to therapy. This
      study will create a database of de-identified MRI images which include these techniques so
      that brain tumors can be studied over time (longitudinally) in an organized manner.
    

Detailed description: 
      Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary malignant neoplasm of the adult brain. Even
      after multimodal therapy, treatment outcomes remain poor, with a median survival of
      approximately one year. A central challenge facing investigators in the modern era is how to
      resolve the heterogeneity inherent in GBM pathology using technology and how to identify
      individual genetic or molecular markers that indicate how treatment can be individualized to
      improve outcomes with an emphasis on using this heterogeneity to improve patient care. With
      advances in imaging and the potential for genetic sequence analysis, increasingly clinicians
      and researchers have focused on specific clinical, imaging, and genetic biomarkers to allow
      the personalization of brain tumor treatment in an attempt to improve the limitations we have
      faced in extending patient survival from this devastating disease. Specific methodologies
      have been developed to allow genetic microarray analysis of patient's tumor tissue, and this
      type of research is ongoing at one of our participating institutions, Swedish Medical Center.
      In addition, centers such as Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri
      have extensive experience pursuing advanced imaging biomarkers and their applications to
      clinical neuro-oncology research.

      Of importance, however, although clinicians and researchers have come to recognize that
      in-vivo imaging technologies may have as much if not more relevance than genetic biomarkers
      in the personalization of brain tumor treatment, clinical trials attempting to validate these
      biomarkers and correlate them with particular outcomes have been limited by a lack of
      technology infrastructure that would allow multi-site image acquisition, processing, data
      analysis, subsequent correlation with clinical and genetic data, and ultimately sharing of
      anonymized data with other researchers from a central archiving site. BIRN infrastructure
      will integrate neuroimaging, genetic microarray, and clinical data with a focus on
      integrating imaging biomarkers into prospective clinical research in patients with malignant
      brain tumors.

      In this project, a consortium of neuro-oncology research centers will be federated to obtain
      a unified set of clinical, genetic, and imaging data. In the initial phase, 100 patients with
      malignant brain tumors at two participating sites will be studied. Our ultimate goal will be
      to use the developed protocols and informatics infrastructure to expand the consortium to
      include a large number neuro-oncology clinical sites suitable for executing large scale
      clinical trials that will facilitate the generation of data to identify which imaging
      biomarkers are relevant for the personalization of brain tumor treatment and ultimately
      improvement of outcomes for patients with this devastating disease.
    

Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Neurology clinic
      
Biospecimen description: 
      Brain tumor tissue, Whole Blood.
    
Keywords: Malignant Brain Tumors; Cancer of the Brain