Aim: Low grade glioma (LGG) is a lethal brain cancer with relatively poor prognosis in young adults. Thus, this study was performed to develop novel molecular biomarkers to effectively predict the prognosis of LGG patients and finally guide treatment decisions. Methods: survival-related genes were determined by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis using the expression and clinical data of 506 LGG patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and independently validated in a Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) dataset. A prognostic risk score was established based on a linear combination of 10 gene expression levels using the regression coefficients of the multivariate Cox regression models. GSEA was performed to analyze the altered signaling pathways between the high and low risk groups stratified by median risk score. Results: We identified a total of 1489 genes significantly correlated with patients’ prognosis in LGG. The top 5 protective genes were DISP2, CKMT1B, AQP7, GPR162 and CHGB, the top 5 risk genes were SP1, EYA3, ZSCAN20, ITPRIPL1 and ZNF217 in LGG. The risk score was predictive of poor overall survival and relapse-free survival in LGG patients. Pathways of small cell lung cancer, pathways in cancer, chronic myeloid leukemia, colorectal cancer were the top 4 most enriched pathways in the high risk group. SP1, EYA3, ZSCAN20, ITPRIPL1, ZNF217 and GPR162 were significantly up-regulated, while DISP2, CKMT1B, AQP7 were down-regulated in 523 LGG tissues as compared to 1141 normal brain controls. Conclusions: The 10-gene signature may become novel prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers to considerably improve the prognostic prediction in LGG.

Intracranial cavernous angiomas (CAs) are hamartomatous vascular malformations consisting of thin-walled vascular channels located within the brain, but typically lacking intervening neural parenchyma, large feeding arteries, or draining veins. The CAs occurring in the ventricular system are rare, with an incidence of 2.5% to 10.3% of the intracranial CAs, and those arising from the trigone of the lateral ventricle are even rarer. Till now, there are <20 patients with trigonal CAs have been reported in the English literature. In this study, the authors describe an extremely rare case of multiple intracranial CAs with a trigonal CA mimicking glioma. Furthermore, they also discuss the characteristic aspects of symptoms, radiologic findings, diagnosis, and treatment of this benign lesion.

Background: The solute carrier (SLC) 7 family genes are a group of cationic amino acid/glycoprotein transporters and of importance to the maintenance of amino acid nutrition and survival of tumour cells. This study was to investigate the diagnostic values of SLC7 family genes and their associations with overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) in Lower grade glioma (LGG). Methods: SLC7 family gene expression and clinical data were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database. The expression difference of SLC7 family genes was compared between 523 LGG and 1141 normal brain tissues. The associations between gene expression, clinicopathologic factors, patients’ OS and RFS were analysed by various statistical methods in the two datasets. Results: As compared to normal brain tissues, SLC7A10 expression was significantly down-regulated, while SLC7A5, SLC7A7 expression was significantly up-regulated in LGG tissues. Multivariate analysis and validation analysis confirmed that increased SLC7A7 expression was associated with increased mortality (P≤0.001, Odd ratio [OR]:2.66, 95% Confidence interval [CI]: 1.56–4.6). While, increased SLC7A4 and SLC7A14 expression was associated with reduced mortality (P=0.02, OR:0.38, 95% CI: 0.16–0.81; P≤0.001, OR:0.38, 95% CI: 0.21–0.67; respectively). Increased SLC7A11 expression was associated with decreased RFS (P=0.01, OR:0.61, 95% CI: 0.43–0.88). Conclusion: SLC7A5, SLC7A7, SLC7A10 might serve as diagnostic biomarkers in LGG. High SLC7A4, SLC7A7 and SLC7A14 expression is significantly associated with OS. SLC7 family gene expression represents a potentially diagnostic and prognostic biomarker to predict survival in LGG.

Parkinson’s syndrome (PD) is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. The chronic disability of PD and the long-term medication required to treat it imposes a huge economic burden on patients and society. Thus, enhancing the therapeutic effect of PD drugs while reducing the side effects caused by long-term drug use has become a challenge that researchers need to overcome. In this study, a compound drug—levodopa/carboxymethyl chitosan/resveratrol nanoparticles (LDP/CMCS/RVT NPs)—with both sustained release and neuroprotective effects was constructed based on carboxymethyl chitosan. The new LDP compound nano-drug can significantly promote glutathione levels of and superoxide dismutase in the substantia nigra and striatum of mice, while increasing the expression of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Based on these findings, LDP/CMCS/RVT NPs is expected to provide a new therapeutic strategy for the recovery of midbrain dopamine deficiency and neuroinflammatory changes in PD patients.