Characterization of the Blood-Brain Barrier in High-Grade Glioma Through Immunohistochemical, Transcriptional, Fluorescein and Radiological Analyses

July 25, 2026 updated by: Patrick Morris
This prospective study aims to characterize blood brain barrier (BBB) disruption in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme undergoing surgical resection. The study integrates advanced MRI, circulating BBB biomarkers, neurocognitive assessment, and molecular analysis of tumor tissue to investigate relationships between BBB integrity, tumor biology, and neurological function. Participants will undergo serial assessments before surgery, after surgery, and following radiotherapy. Tumor tissue collected during standard-of-care resection will undergo immunohistochemical and transcriptional

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Glioblastoma is characterized by disruption of the blood-brain barrier, which may influence tumor progression, neurological dysfunction, treatment delivery, and clinical outcomes. This study seeks to comprehensively characterize BBB integrity using multimodal approaches.

Participants with newly diagnosed GBM selected for surgical resection will undergo:

  • Clinical and demographic data collection.
  • Neurocognitive assessment using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET).
  • High-resolution 3-Tesla MRI with and without gadolinium contrast, including structural and functional imaging sequences.
  • Blood sampling for measurement of biomarkers associated with BBB disruption and neuronal injury, including S100β, GFAP, UCHL1, amyloid beta, phosphorylated tau, and neuron-specific enolase.
  • Collection of tumor tissue during routine surgical resection for immunohistochemical and transcriptional analyses.

Serial evaluations will be performed preoperatively, postoperatively, at 72 hours, at 4 weeks, and 4 weeks following completion of radiotherapy, according to the assessment schedule.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

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

Study Locations

  • Ireland
      • Beaumont, Ireland, D09
        • Recruiting
        • Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre
        • 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

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patients aged 18 years or older.
  • Newly diagnosed glioblastoma.
  • Selected for surgical tumor resection.
  • Able and willing to provide written informed consent.
  • Able to undergo study assessments and follow-up procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Contraindication to magnetic resonance imaging.
  • Confusion, delirium, or altered state of consciousness that interferes with the ability to provide informed consent.
  • Any condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would prevent completion of study procedures or compromise participant safety.

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: Blood Brain Barrier Characterisation Cohort
Participants with newly diagnosed glioblastoma will undergo a standardized Phase 2 multimodal assessment program designed to characterize blood-brain barrier integrity. Study interventions include serial advanced contrast-enhanced MRI, blood biomarker sampling, neurocognitive assessments, and molecular analysis of tumor tissue obtained during standard of care surgical resection. Assessments will be performed longitudinally at predefined time points before surgery, after surgery, at 72 hours, at 4 weeks, and following completion of radiotherapy to evaluate changes in blood-brain barrier function and their association with clinical, radiological, and molecular outcomes.
Diagnostic test: Multimodal Blood Brain Barrier Assessment
A standardised multimodal diagnostic assessment designed to characterize blood brain barrier integrity in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The intervention includes advanced contrast enhanced MRI, serial blood sampling for measurement of blood-brain barrier and neuronal injury biomarkers (including S100β, GFAP, UCHL1, amyloid beta, phosphorylated tau, and neuron-specific enolase), neurocognitive assessments, and immunohistochemical and transcriptional analyses of tumor tissue obtained during standard-of-care surgical resection. Assessments are performed longitudinally before surgery, after surgery, at 72 hours, at 4 weeks, and following completion of radiotherapy.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Serum Biomarkers of Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption and Neuronal Injury
Time Frame: Baseline (within 7 days before surgery), intraoperative, within 24 hours after surgery, 72 hours after surgery, 4 weeks after surgery, and 4 weeks after completion of radiotherapy
Serial measurement of serum biomarkers associated with blood-brain barrier disruption and neuronal injury, including S100β, GFAP, UCHL1, amyloid beta, phosphorylated tau, and neuron-specific enolase. Biomarker concentrations will be assessed longitudinally to characterize changes in blood-brain barrier integrity in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma undergoing surgical resection and radiotherapy.
Baseline (within 7 days before surgery), intraoperative, within 24 hours after surgery, 72 hours after surgery, 4 weeks after surgery, and 4 weeks after completion of radiotherapy

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
MRI Based Measures of Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity
Time Frame: 4 weeks after surgery
Assessment of blood-brain barrier disruption using contrast-enhanced 3-Tesla MRI, including quantitative and qualitative radiological measures of tumour enhancement and permeability. Imaging findings will be evaluated longitudinally and correlated with circulating biomarkers and clinical outcomes.
4 weeks after surgery
Immunohistochemical Characterisation of Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption
Time Frame: During surgical resection (single assessment)
Expression of blood-brain barrier-associated proteins within resected glioblastoma tissue assessed by immunohistochemical analysis. Findings will be used to characterize blood-brain barrier integrity and correlated with circulating biomarker and imaging measures.
During surgical resection (single assessment)
Transcriptional Characterisation of Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption
Time Frame: During surgical resection (single assessment)
Gene expression profiling of resected glioblastoma tissue to identify transcriptional signatures associated with blood-brain barrier disruption and tumour biology. Results will be correlated with blood biomarker and imaging findings.
During surgical resection (single assessment)
Neurocognitive Function Assessed by RBANS
Time Frame: Baseline (within 7 days before surgery), 4 weeks after surgery, and 4 weeks after completion of radiotherapy
Neurocognitive performance measured using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Changes in cognitive function will be examined in relation to blood-brain barrier integrity and treatment.
Baseline (within 7 days before surgery), 4 weeks after surgery, and 4 weeks after completion of radiotherapy

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Patrick Morris

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 (Actual)

March 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2035

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 25, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 28, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 25, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 22-54

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data underlying the results reported in publications arising from this study may be shared with qualified researchers upon reasonable request, subject to approval by the study investigators, institutional policies, ethical approvals, and applicable data protection regulations. Data sharing will include relevant clinical, imaging, biomarker, and neurocognitive datasets necessary to support replication of study findings.

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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