Meningioma is the most common brain tumour in adults, arising from the protective lining that surrounds the brain. While many grow slowly and can be treated with surgery, some return aggressively after treatment, forcing patients to undergo repeated surgeries and radiation, often with life-altering side-effects.
Currently, there is no reliable way to predict which tumours will come back, and with few safe and effective treatment options available, new approaches are desperately needed.
With just over $503,000 from a Terry Fox New Investigator Award, Dr. Farshad Nassiri, neurosurgeon and scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, is leading a multidisciplinary team aiming to tackle this by combining computational and molecular biology. Their project will focus on predicting which meningiomas are most likely to return after surgery, helping doctors tailor treatment decisions and ultimately improving outcomes for patients.
“Our goal is to better predict tumour behaviour, identify new treatment options and ensure these discoveries reach patients,” says Dr. Nassiri.
The team has spent the past several years studying the biology of these tumours to understand what drives some of these tumours to grow back after surgery. Their research has shown that genetic changes within the tumour’s DNA play an important role, allowing them to classify meningiomas into four distinct subgroups based on their molecular “fingerprints.”
Early findings suggest that the cells surrounding the tumour – and how they communicate with each other – also differ between these subgroups and may hold important clues for new therapies.
“Looking at the genetic changes and other changes within the tumours, we've found some exciting data that points to why some tumours come back and some don't,” he says. “But we are just at the tip of the iceberg and need to understand this in more detail to find new treatment options”
Over the next three years, the team will combine cutting edge genomic technologies with computational tools to map tumor biology at unprecedented detail, revealing why some meningiomas behave more aggressively than others.
They will study the activity of individual tumour cells to understand how cells within each subgroup interact with their environment. The team will also experiment with compounds in the lab to block interactions that may drive tumour growth. Using advanced tools like spatial transcriptomics, they will examine how different regions within and around a tumour contribute to its growth and ability to invade surrounding brain tissue.
“But accessing this kind of genetic information is still slow, expensive and not widely available in clinical care,” says Dr. Nassiri
To address this, the team will use artificial intelligence to detect key genetic patterns in meningiomas from routine clinical data, such as pathology slides and MRI scans. If successful, this approach could make advanced genetic insights more affordable and accessible in everyday clinical practice, helping predict tumour behaviour and guide treatment decisions.
By studying tumour cells in greater detail than ever before, they hope to uncover new treatment options beyond surgery, leading to more personalized care and better outcomes for patients.
“Receiving a Terry Fox New Investigator Award feels incredibly meaningful,” says Dr. Nassiri. “It allows us to push this work forward and bring discoveries closer to patients.”
“But beyond funding research, it carries forward Terry Fox’s mission,” he adds. “It gives hope and helps bring discoveries from the lab into the clinic. I hope this project will lead to new treatment options for patients with meningiomas that were never possible before.”