Project description:Unlike in children, brain stem gliomas in adult are rare and still poorly understood. In addition, most adult brain stem gliomas result predominantly in the pons and are less often found in the medulla oblongata. Here, we report a case of an adult glioma in the medulla oblongata and its molecular biological features. A 46-year-old male presented with gait disturbance, paresthesia, and dysphagia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a diffuse hyper-intensive lesion in the medulla oblongata on a T2-weighted image without gadolinium contrast enhancement. We performed an open biopsy and the lesion was pathologically diagnosed as a diffuse astrocytoma. Molecular biological analyses revealed the absence of histone H3.3 mutation (H3F3A K27M), and presence of methylation of O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter and a mutation in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH-1). The patient received local radiotherapy and temozolomide chemotherapy. The patient's symptoms were ameliorated, and MRI showed no tumor growth at 6 months after the initial treatment. Biopsy for brain stem lesions is generally thought to have risk of complications, but if performed minimally, it is useful to diagnose and determine treatment strategy. Obtaining patient characteristics and molecular biological features will provide insight towards therapeutic treatment for adult brain stem gliomas.
Project description:Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is the most severe paediatric solid tumour, with no significant therapeutic progress made in the past 50 years. Recent studies suggest that diffuse midline glioma, H3-K27M mutant, may comprise more than one biological entity. The aim of the study was to determine the clinical and biological variables that most impact their prognosis. Ninety-one patients with classically defined DIPG underwent a systematic stereotactic biopsy and were included in this observational retrospective study. Histone H3 genes mutations were assessed by immunochemistry and direct sequencing, whilst global gene expression profiling and chromosomal imbalances were determined by microarrays. A full description of the MRI findings at diagnosis and at relapse was integrated with the molecular profiling data and clinical outcome. All DIPG but one were found to harbour either a somatic H3-K27M mutation and/or loss of H3K27 trimethylation. We also discovered a novel K27M mutation in HIST2H3C, and a lysine-to-isoleucine substitution (K27I) in H3F3A, also creating a loss of trimethylation. Patients with tumours harbouring a K27M mutation in H3.3 (H3F3A) did not respond clinically to radiotherapy as well, relapsed significantly earlier and exhibited more metastatic recurrences than those in H3.1 (HIST1H3B/C). H3.3-K27M-mutated DIPG have a proneural/oligodendroglial phenotype and a pro-metastatic gene expression signature with PDGFRA activation, while H3.1-K27M-mutated tumours exhibit a mesenchymal/astrocytic phenotype and a pro-angiogenic/hypoxic signature supported by expression profiling and radiological findings. H3K27 alterations appear as the founding event in DIPG and the mutations in the two main histone H3 variants drive two distinct oncogenic programmes with potential specific therapeutic targets.
Project description:INTRODUCTION: Mutations in H3F3A, which encodes histone H3.3, commonly occur in pediatric glioblastoma. Additionally, H3F3A K27M substitutions occur in gliomas that arise at midline locations (eg, pons, thalamus, spine); moreover, this substitution occurs mainly in tumors in children and adolescents. Here, we sought to determine the association between H3F3A mutations and adult thalamic glioma. METHODS: Genomic H3F3A was sequenced from 20 separate thalamic gliomas. Additionally, for 14 of the 20 gliomas, 639 genes--including cancer-related genes and chromatin-modifier genes--were sequenced, and the Infinium HumanMethylation450K BeadChip was used to examine DNA methylation across the genome. RESULTS: Of the 20 tumors, 18 were high-grade thalamic gliomas, and of these 18, 11 were from patients under 50 years of age (median age, 38 y; range, 17-46), and 7 were from patients over 50 years of age. The H3F3A K27M mutation was present in 10 of the 11 (91%) younger patients and absent from all 7 older patients. Additionally, H3F3A K27M was not detected in the 2 diffuse astrocytomas. Further sequencing revealed recurrent mutations in TP53, ATRX, NF1, and EGFR. Gliomas with H3F3A K27M from pediatric or young adult patients had similar, characteristic DNA methylation profiles. In contrast, thalamic gliomas with wild-type H3F3A had DNA methylation profiles similar to those of hemispheric glioblastomas. CONCLUSION: We found that high-grade thalamic gliomas from young adults, like those from children and adolescents, frequently had H3F3A K27M.
Project description:Diffuse midline glioma (DMG) is a devastating disease that is defined by its localization, by the diffuse growth of astrocytic tumor cells, and by K27M mutations within Histone H3 proteins. In a large series of such tumor samples (n=83), we show here that 12 % of these cases (n=10) harbor concomitant hotspot mutations within FGFR1 or BRAF. Respective cases were all located in midline structures and matched with reference cases of DMG using global DNA methylation profiling. TP53 mutations were significantly more frequent in BRAF/FGFR1 wild type cases. Presence of hotspot mutations within FGFR1 or BRAF was associated with a significantly better overall survival, which was independent of the patients’ age and tumor localization. Thus, our results establish the relevance of FGFR1 or BRAF mutations in DMG as a prognostic marker and open new targeted therapy options in this subgroup of DMG.
Project description:Due to the rare incidence of spinal cord astrocytomas, their molecular features remain unclear. Here, we characterized the landscapes of mutations in H3 K27M, isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) R132H, BRAF V600E, and the TERT promoter in 83 diffuse spinal cord astrocytic tumors. Among these samples, thirty-five patients had the H3 K27M mutation; this mutant could be observed in histological grade II (40%), III (40%), and IV (20%) astrocytomas. IDH1 mutations were absent in 58 of 58 cases tested. The BRAF V600E mutation (7/57) was only observed in H3-wildtype astrocytomas, and was associated with a better prognosis in all histological grade II/III astrocytomas. TERT promoter mutations were observed in both H3 K27M-mutant (4/25) and -wildtype (9/33) astrocytomas, and were associated with a poor prognosis in H3-wildtype histological grade II/III astrocytomas. In the 2016 WHO classification of CNS tumors, H3 K27M-mutant diffuse midline gliomas, including spinal cord astrocytomas, are categorized as WHO grade IV. Here, we noticed that the median overall survival of histological grade II/III H3 K27M-mutant cases (n =?28) was significantly longer than that of either the total histological grade IV cases (n =?12) or the H3 K27M-mutant histological grade IV cases (n =?7). We also directly compared H3 K27M-mutant astrocytomas to H3-wildtype astrocytomas of the same histological grade. In histological grade II astrocytomas, compared to H3-wildtype cases (n?=?37), H3 K27M-mutant patients (n?=?14) had showed a significantly higher Ki-67-positive rate and poorer survival rate. However, no significant differences in these parameters were observed in histological grade III and IV astrocytoma patients. In conclusion, these findings indicate that spinal cord astrocytomas are considerably different from hemispheric and brainstem astrocytomas in terms of their molecular profiles, and that the histological grade cannot be ignored when assessing the prognosis of H3 K27M-mutant spinal cord astrocytomas.
Project description:H3 K27-altered diffuse midline glioma is a highly lethal pediatric-type tumor without efficacious treatments. Recent findings have highlighted the heterogeneity among diffuse midline gliomas with different locations and ages. Compared to tumors located in the brain stem and thalamus, the molecular and clinicopathological features of H3 K27-altered spinal cord glioma are still largely elusive, thus hindering the accurate management of patients. Here we aimed to characterize the clinicopathological and molecular features of H3 K27M-mutant spinal cord glioma in 77 consecutive cases. We found that the H3 K27M-mutant spinal cord glioma, with a median age of 35 years old, had a significantly better prognosis than H3 K27M-mutant brain tumors. We noticed a molecular heterogeneity of H3 K27M-mutant spinal cord astrocytoma via targeted sequencing with 34 cases. TP53 mutation which occurred in 58.8% of cases is mutually exclusive with PPM1D (26%) and NF1 (44%) mutations. The TP53-mutant cases had a significantly higher number of copy number variants (CNV) and a marginally higher proportion of pediatric patients (age at diagnosis <18 years old, p = 0.056). Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier curve analysis showed that the higher number of CNV events (≥3), chromosome (Chr) 9p deletion, Chr 10p deletion, ATRX mutation, CDK6 amplification, and retinoblastoma protein (RB) pathway alteration are associated with worse survival. Cox regression analysis with clinicopathological features showed that glioblastoma histological type and a high Ki-67 index (>10%) are associated with a worse prognosis. Interestingly, the histological type, an independent prognostic factor in multivariate Cox regression, can also stratify molecular features of H3 K27M-mutant spinal cord glioma, including the RB pathway, KRAS/PI3K pathway, and chromosome arms CNV. In conclusion, although all H3 K27M-mutant spinal cord diffuse glioma were diagnosed as WHO Grade 4, the histological type, molecular features representing chromatin instability, and molecular alterations associated with accelerated cell proliferative activity should not be ignored in clinical management.
Project description:Pediatric glioblastomas (GBM) are highly aggressive and lethal tumors. Recent sequencing studies have shown that ~30 % of pediatric GBM and ~80 % of diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas show K27M mutations in the H3F3A gene, a variant encoding histone H3.3. H3F3A K27M mutations lead to global reduction in H3K27me3. Our goal was to develop biomarkers for the histopathologic detection of these tumors. Therefore, we evaluated the utility of measuring H3K27me3 global reduction as a histopathologic and prognostic biomarker and tested an antibody directed specifically against the H3.3 K27M mutation in 290 samples. The study cohort included 203 pediatric (including 38 pediatric high-grade astrocytomas) and 38 adult brain tumors of various subtypes and grades and 49 non-neoplastic reactive brain tissues. Detection of H3.3 K27M by immunohistochemistry showed 100 % sensitivity and specificity and was superior to global reduction in H3K27me3 as a biomarker in diagnosing H3F3A K27M mutations. Moreover, cases that stained positive for H3.3 K27M showed a significantly poor prognosis compared to corresponding negative tumors. These results suggest that immunohistochemical detection of H3.3 K27M is a sensitive and specific surrogate for the H3F3A K27M mutation and defines a prognostically poor subset of pediatric GBM.
Project description:Scant data are available regarding ischemic insult to the spinal cord and the responsible blood supply. Therefore, we aimed to investigate a correlation between atherosclerosis of adjacent vessels and spinal cord ischemia.In 20 unembalmed adult cadavers, samples of the vertebral arteries and aorta were removed and the degree of atherosclerosis with subsequent luminal occlusion was histologically analyzed. Next, adjacent segments of the spinal cord were harvested and submitted for immunohistological analysis of both neural and glial elements and blood supply.We identified proximal atherosclerosis in the majority of cadavers but with varying degrees of luminal occlusion. The greatest degree of luminal occlusion was found in the descending abdominal aorta. No specimen was found to have atherosclerosis of the anterior or posterior spinal or radicular arteries. No spinal cord histology showed signs of ischemia, even in specimens with a significant large parent vessel (vertebral artery and aorta) occlusion due to atherosclerosis. Neuropathology of these adjacent cord segments revealed no signs of ischemia or demyelination.Spinal cord ischemia is often misdiagnosed and can cause significant neurological compromise. However, based on our study, the degree of atherosclerosis of the adjacent parent vessel supply does not appear to be a predictor of neuronal and glial tissue damage of the adjacent spinal cord.
Project description:Ganglioglioma (GG) is a grade I tumor characterized by alterations in the MAPK pathway, including BRAF V600E mutation. Recently, diffuse midline glioma with an H3 K27M mutation was added to the WHO 2016 classification as a new grade IV entity. As co-occurrence of H3 K27M and BRAF V600E mutations has been reported in midline tumors and anaplastic GG, we searched for BRAF V600E and H3 K27M mutations in a series of 54 paediatric midline grade I GG (midline GG) to determine the frequency of double mutations and its relevance for prognosis. Twenty-seven patients (50%) possessed the BRAF V600E mutation. The frequency of the co-occurrence of H3F3A/BRAF mutations at diagnosis was 9.3%. No H3 K27M mutation was detected in the absence of the BRAF V600E mutation. Double-immunostaining revealed that BRAF V600E and H3 K27M mutant proteins were present in both the glial and neuronal components. Immunopositivity for the BRAF V600E mutant protein correlated with BRAF mutation status as detected by massARRAY or digital droplet PCR. The median follow-up of patients with double mutation was 4 years. One patient died of progressive disease 8 years after diagnosis, whereas the four other patients were all alive with stable disease at the last clinical follow-up (at 9 months, 1 year and 7 years) without adjuvant therapy. We demonstrate in this first series of midline GGs that the H3 K27M mutation can occur in association with the BRAF V600E mutation in grade I glioneuronal tumors. Despite the presence of H3 K27M mutations, these cases should not be graded and treated as grade IV tumors because they have a better spontaneous outcome than classic diffuse midline H3 K27M-mutant glioma. These data suggest that H3 K27M cannot be considered a specific hallmark of grade IV diffuse gliomas and highlight the importance of integrated histomolecular diagnosis in paediatric brain tumors.
Project description:Recent studies showed that RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) plays an important role in neurological diseases. We used methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-Seq) technology to generate the m6A modification map after traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). A total of 2,609 differential m6A peaks were identified after TSCI. Our RNA sequencing results after TSCI showed 4,206 genes with significantly altered expression. Cross-link analysis of m6A sequencing results and RNA sequencing results showed that 141 hyper-methylated genes were upregulated, 53 hyper-methylated genes were downregulated, 57 hypo-methylated genes were upregulated, and 197 hypo-methylated genes were downregulated. Among these, the important inflammatory response factor Tlr4 and the important member of the neurotrophin family Ngf were both upregulated and hyper-methylated after TSCI. This study provides that in the future, the epigenetic modifications of the genes could be used as an indicator of TSCI.