Brain Radiotherapy Imaging for High-grade Glioma Using Hypoxia Targeting Through Oxygen-Enhanced Response (BRIGHTER)

June 19, 2026 updated by: The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

High-grade gliomas (HGGs) are the most common type of brain cancer in adults. Life expectancy for patients with HGGs is low. Radiotherapy aims to cure the tumour, but this is hard because HGGs are resistant to treatment. Among the possible causes of resistance may be tumour cells with low-oxygen levels (hypoxia). We know this makes tumours less sensitive to radiotherapy. Using a special imaging technique called oxygen-enhanced MRI (OE-MRI) we can try to identify areas of the tumour with hypoxia. We could then give those areas a higher dose of radiotherapy. This might improve tumour control. This study aims to see if OE-MRI can find low-oxygen areas in HGGs. It will also check if we can simulate higher doses of radiotherapy in these regions.

Project summary:

  1. Set up the OE-MRI process at Leeds Cancer Centre (LCC). OE-MRI settings will be tested on healthy volunteers to ensure the images are as good as possible.
  2. Patient Imaging. Patients with HGG will be recruited to take part. OE-MRI will be used to image patients during their treatment and track low-oxygen areas before treatment, halfway through treatment and 3 months after treatment has finished.
  3. Dose Escalation Assessment. Computer programs will be used to design radiotherapy treatments to test if higher radiation doses to the tumour's low-oxygen areas can better control the cancer. This will help understand if this targeted approach has potential benefits. This is modelling and will not alter routine clinical patient management.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

25

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ≥18yrs.
  • Participants able to communicate with staff and safely comply with the study procedures.
  • Participants to provide informed written consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with any MRI contraindications including inability to lie flat in MRI scanner, claustrophobia and no foreign bodies, medical devices or other items which are considered an MRI contraindication.
  • Geographically remote patients unable to agree to imaging schedule.
  • Participants with illness or condition which means they cannot understand the requirements of the study.
  • Participants with cardiac or pulmonary disease that are unable to tolerate the flow of oxygen delivered via a mask.
  • Participants who have previously been treated with bleomycin (a chemotherapy used to treat some cancers including Hodgkin lymphoma and germ cell tumours).
  • Participants with contraindications to gadolinium-based contrast agent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: OE-MRI in high-grade glioma
Participants with high-grade glioma undergo oxygen-enhanced MRI (OE-MRI) at multiple time points (pre-treatment, mid-radiotherapy, and post-treatment) to assess tumour hypoxia. Oxygen is administered as a physiological stimulus during imaging. Data are used to evaluate hypoxia and to perform radiotherapy dose escalation modelling. No changes to standard clinical care are made.
Diagnostic test: Oxygen-Enhanced MRI (OE-MRI)
Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI) is performed to assess tumour hypoxia. Participants undergo MRI scanning while breathing oxygen administered as a physiological stimulus to generate contrast related to tissue oxygenation. Imaging is conducted at multiple time points during standard treatment. The procedure is used for assessment only and does not alter clinical management.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quantification of tumour hypoxia using oxygen-enhanced MRI (OE-MRI)
Time Frame: From enrolment to the 3 month post-radiotherapy follow-up imaging
This study aims to determine whether a special MRI- oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI)- can effectively show regions of low oxygen in patients with aggressive brain tumours (high-grade glioma (HGG)), and whether this information can help doctors target radiotherapy more accurately and improve patient outcomes.
From enrolment to the 3 month post-radiotherapy follow-up imaging

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 19, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 19, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 26, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 26, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 19, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 26/YH/0136
  • NIHR306045 (Other Grant/Funding Number: National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), UK)
  • 349630 (Other Identifier: Integrated Research Application System (IRAS), UK)
  • 64862 (BRIGHTER) (Other Identifier: NIHR Clinical Research Network (Central Portfolio Management System, CPMS), UK)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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