Correlation Among Pathology, Genotype, and Patient Outcomes in Glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastomas are histologically and genetically heterogeneous. We have investigated to what extent histologic features reflect the genetic profile and whether they are predictive of clinical outcome. Key histologic characteristics, including major cell types (small cell, nonsmall cell), other components such as oligodendroglial components, gemistocytes, multinucleated giant cells, as well as necrosis and microvascular proliferation, of 420 cases of glioblastoma within a population-based study (1) were reassessed and correlated with patients' clinical outcome and key genetic alterations. EGFR amplification and p16 homozygous deletion were significantly more frequent in small cell glioblastomas than in nonsmall cell glioblastomas (EGFR, 46% vs 26%, p = 0.0002; p16 39% vs 25%, p = 0.0167). Multivariate analyses with adjustment for age and gender showed that small cell glioblastomas had frequent EGFR amplification and p16 deletion but infrequent PTEN mutations. An oligodendroglial component was detected in 20% of glioblastomas; these patients were significantly younger (54.4 +/- 13.6 vs 59.2 +/- 13.8 years; p = 0.0049) and survived longer (10.3 +/- 8.3 vs 8.2 +/- 8.4 months; p = 0.0647). However, multivariate analyses with adjustment for age and gender did not show the presence of an oligodendroglial component to be predictive of longer survival. After adjustment for age and gender, LOH 1p was associated with longer survival (hazard ratio, 0.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5-1.0), whereas LOH 10q was associated with shorter survival (hazard ratio, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.0-1.8) of patients with glioblastoma. Glioblastomas containing >or=5% multinucleated giant cells showed more frequent TP53 mutation and infrequent EGFR amplification than those containing <5% multinucleated giant cells (TP53, 45% vs 24%, p = 0.0001; EGFR, 24% vs 42%, p = 0.0005). Vascular proliferation was observed in all glioblastomas, whereas large ischemic and/or pseudopalisading necrosis was observed in 366 of 420 (87%) cases. Glioblastomas with necrosis were associated with older age (59.2 +/- 13.3 vs 51.6 +/- 15.3 years; p = 0.0001) and shorter survival (7.9 +/- 6.8 vs 12.9 +/- 14.2 months; p = 0.0017). Multivariate analyses with adjustment for age and gender confirmed this observation (hazard ratio, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.0). Multivariate analysis with adjustment for age and gender showed that necrosis was significantly associated with wild-type TP53 and absence of an oligodendroglial component. These results suggest that some histologic features in glioblastomas are associated with specific genetic alterations and with clinical outcome.

MR Imaging–Based Analysis of Glioblastoma Multiforme: Estimation ofIDH1Mutation Status

“…In GBM, hypoxia-mediated activation of the coagulation system causes intravascular thrombosis, which further increases intratumoral hypoxia and leads to abnormal endothelial cell proliferation and tumor necrosis. 43 Previous studies demonstrated that large areas of ischemic and/or pseudopalisading necrosis are more frequent in primary than in secondary GBMs, 44 and in patients with IDH1w than in those with IDH1m. 25 Carlson et al 45 indicated that necrosis is associated with higher levels of vascular endothelial growth factor.…”

PDGFRA gene rearrangements are frequent genetic events in PDGFRA-amplified glioblastomas

“…Genomic analysis of this subtype revealed that there were no distinguishable genetic alterations from GBMs without an oligodendroglioma component (Homma et al 2006). Our present study suggests that abnormal PDGFRA signaling is likely to contribute to histological features of oligodendroglioma, a notion supported by the induction of similar gliomas by forced PDGFB ligand in mouse models (Uhrbom et al 1998;Dai et al 2001).…”

PTEN signaling in brain: neuropathology and tumorigenesis

“…In support of the latter, multiple studies have generally associated loss of function of PTEN with a more adverse outcome. Pediatric patients harboring PTEN mutation in tumors have poorer prognosis (Raffel et al, 1999;Phillips et al, 2006), whereas in adults several groups have shown that LOH at 10q has negative correlation with survival (Lin et al, 1998;Tada et al, 2001;Homma et al, 2006). Additionally, decreased PTEN mRNA expression or low PTEN protein levels are also linked with decreased survival (Sano et al, 1999;Ermoian et al, 2002;Phillips et al, 2006).…”