Abstract Glioblastoma is an aggressive and highly therapy-resistant brain tumour. Whilst advanced disease has been intensely investigated, the mechanisms that underpin the earlier, likely more tractable, stages of glioblastoma development remain poorly understood. Over the last few years my lab has focussed on understanding the biology of early gliomagenesis, exploring the role of driver mutations and the normal brain microenvironment. To achieve this, we have developed a suite of human-relevant preclinical models which enable mechanistic analysis of these early disease stages which remain largely inaccessible in patients. I will describe some our recent findings, which reveal mutation-specific effects and a key role for injury programmes in driving early gliomagenesis. Injury programmes are induced by tumour cells and coordinated by axonal degeneration and associated neuroinflammation. Together, our work suggests that targeting the injury microenvironment may provide new strategies for earlier intervention in glioblastoma. Citation Format: Simona Parrinello. The role of injury programs in gliomagenesis abstract. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Brain Cancer; 2026 Mar 23-25; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86 (6Suppl): Abstract nr IA008.
Simona Parrinello (2026) studied this question.