Dr. Elizabeth B. Claus, Ph.D., MD, Leading National Study into Causes of Meningioma

Brain Science Foundation Scholar Dr. Elizabeth B. Claus, Ph.D., MD, Associate Neurosurgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, is leading a national study into the causes of meningioma. As a result of pilot data that Dr. Claus generated from several Brain Science Foundation seed project grants, she leveraged significant external funding to bring local projects to a national level.
The $9.5 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be the largest multi-dimensional study to comprehensively examine the environmental, genetic, pathologic and clinical variables associated with meningioma risk.

This Meningioma Consortium Study will include approximately 1,600 persons with a new meningioma diagnosis and 1,600 persons without such a diagnosis from five population-based study sites in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and North Carolina as well as the San Francisco Bay Area and Harris County, Texas, and will examine risk factors associated with a diagnosis of meningioma, the most frequently reported of primary intra-cranial neoplasms.  “At present, the two factors for which the strongest evidence exists with respect to an association with meningioma risk are hormones and radiation exposure,” says Claus.  “However, even these factors remain largely unexplored.”

Despite the fact that meningiomas are the most common of all primary brain and central nervous system tumors, limited data is available on long-term outcomes for meningioma patients. The five-year grant from the NIH will also evaluate the quality of life for persons with meningiomas.  Dr. Claus has commented that now is an ideal time to launch a study of meningioma given the recently enacted Benign Brain Tumor Cancer Registries Amendment, which mandates the registration of all brain tumors, both malignant and non-malignant, with U.S. Government Cancer Registries as well as the development of new tools in genetic and molecular epidemiology.

The Brain Science Foundation is particularly proud of Dr. Claus’s success as it clearly demonstrates the efficacy of the Brain Science Foundation – Brigham and Women’s Hospital entrepreneurial model. This project exemplifies the success of this partnership whereby significant resources are channeled to sustain innovative seed projects until they mature to become self-sustaining.