Exploring How Cells from the Skull Can Help Brain Tumours Hide from the Immune System
Fast facts
Title: Tumour Defenders at the Brain’s Edge: Understanding how Skull-derived Haematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells Contribute to Ependymoma Immunotolerance
Lead researcher: Dr Elizabeth Cooper
Where: University of Cambridge
When: February 2025 – January 2027
Cost: £150,000 over 2 years
Research type: Ependymoma, Immunotherapy, Paediatric, High grade
Grant round: Expanding Theories
Ependymoma is a rare type of brain tumour, accounting for around 1% of brain tumours diagnosed in the UK. Ependymomas develop from ependymal cells, which are the cells that make cerebrospinal fluid. Although they can affect both adults and children, they are the third most common type of childhood brain tumour.
What is it?
No new therapies have been developed for ependymoma in the last 30 years, and it is still unclear how best to treat this type of brain tumour.
Immunotherapy is a promising approach for treating cancers, although so far it has had little impact in the field of brain tumours. Researcher Dr Elizabeth Cooper and her team have identified a previously unknown type of blood cell which could help to improve immunotherapy for brain tumours. This newly discovered blood cell is produced in the skull bone marrow and can travel to the site of the tumour where it can prevent the immune system from attacking the tumour. These cells appear to stop the brain’s immune system from recognising tumours as abnormal and attacking them. Dr Cooper believes that understanding more about these cells could lead to new ways to target brain tumours by harnessing the immune system.
Why is it important?
Currently, very little is known about the immune system in childhood brain tumours, particularly the role of surrounding cells in the skull and other tissues. This explorative project will unmask how immune cells travel and communicate between the skull and tumour tissue, providing the world’s first exploration into whether targeting immune cells from the skull could be used as a method of treatment for ependymoma .
“Our research will provide a deeper understanding of the brain’s immune system, providing the first steps to using immune therapies for brain tumours more effectively. We can’t give up on immunotherapies for brain tumours yet.”
Dr Elizabeth Cooper
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Dr Elizabeth Cooper is a distinguished researcher in the field of paediatric neuro-oncology, currently affiliated with the CRUK Cambridge Institute and the CRUK Children’s Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence at the University of Cambridge.
