Adrienne Weeks – Dalhousie University, NS

Co-Investigators: Dr Jeremy Roy and Dr Lauren Westhaver

Project: “Comprehensive immunophenotyping via flow cytometry of primary tumor tissue and longitudinal peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with glioblastoma to distinguish pseudoprogression from true progression”

Generously funded by DUNN with Cancer

Description of Project:

The Weeks and Roy laboratory set out in 2020 to establish the largest longitudinal blood collection for brain tumour patients in Atlantic Canada. We aim to utilize this large patient cohort to further understand how the immune system, glioblastoma, and treatments interact in brain cancer progression. After brain cancer treatment, patients undergo MRI imaging to look for progression. Unfortunately, in a subset of patients, treatment response can look like progression on MRI; this is known as pseudoprogression. This often delays treatment decisions until the next MRI scan. This knowledge gap leads to delays in care which has a negative impact on quality of life. We hypothesize that by understanding changes in immune profiles in the blood of patients undergoing treatment, we can better inform patients and their clinicians on pseudoprogression versus true progression and improve care.

What receiving this award means:

“In reading Allison’s story, we see reflected many of our own patients and our own experiences as parents, daughters, partners, surgeons and researchers. This is a horrible cancer that robs families of time and memories. From our research family, we thank Allison’s family for supporting the Brain Tumour Foundation in promoting research that can in turn shed light on brain cancer. This award means our research can continue to understand how the immune system changes throughout disease course to identify more effective cancer treatments and timely interventions and improve quality of life. Without the support of the Brain Tumour Foundation and the donor DUNN with Cancer, our research could not continue. We are very grateful and thank you, from our entire research family and the families of the patient’s we treat.

Midpoint Update – June 2025

In the first year of our project, we’ve been working on a special test to better understand the immune system in people with brain tumours. This test examines 56 different signals from immune cells in both blood and tumour samples, utilizing a laboratory technique called flow cytometry.

We’ve also continued to recruit new patients and collect their samples. Now that the test is working well, we’ve started analyzing blood from healthy people to see what “normal” looks like. This helps us spot important differences in patients later on.
Next, we’ll begin studying the samples we’ve collected from patients. By comparing individuals with actual tumour growth to those experiencing a treatment side effect called pseudoprogression, we hope to identify patterns in the immune system that can help doctors make faster and more accurate decisions. In the long run, this could lead to better care and new treatment options for people living with glioblastoma.