What is glioblastoma brain cancer, the condition that Sophie Kinsella had?

Sophie Kinsella, the acclaimed author behind the beloved Shopaholic series, has died aged 55 after years living with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Glioblastomas are considered the deadliest and fastest-growing brain tumours.

Around 3,200 people are diagnosed annually in the UK.

Only 160 survive for five years or more.

This cancer grows quickly, forming tumours that penetrate various brain regions.

They often recur even after removal, making effective treatment exceptionally difficult.

The symptoms of this type of cancer vary according to where in the brain the tumour grows.

Symptoms include headaches caused by a build-up of pressure; personality changes and memory problems.

People may also have trouble speaking or understanding what is happening, extreme tiredness and depression.

Patients may also experience seizures and sight problems.

Common treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

If a patient is well enough, a surgeon will try to remove as much cancer as possible during an operation.

Research is ongoing into treating glioblastoma, with several experimental clinical trials planned or in progress.

Work by the University of Edinburgh and biotech firm Trogenix is looking at how a gene therapy could use a harmless viral vector to deliver instructions to make a toxic substance that kills glioblastoma cells.

The treatment, which is expected to go into clinical trials early next year, also works as an immune therapy to train the body to kill cancer cells.

In April 2024, Kinsella revealed that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma towards the end of 2022.

“I’ve wanted for a long time to share with you a health update and I’ve been waiting for the strength to do so,” she wrote in a statement posted on her social media accounts, explaining that she had paused over making the news public “because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt for our ‘new normal’”.

She told her fans that she had been undergoing treatment at a London hospital, and thanked her family, friends and “the wonderful doctors and nurses who have treated me” for their support.