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No Shinkei Geka 2021 May;49(3):640-646

Division of Neuro-Oncology, Children's Cancer Center, National Center for Child Health and Development.

Pediatric gliomas include various types of glioma broadly categorized as low- or hi-grade based on histopathological features. Clinically significant types include cerebellar astrocytomas, optic pathway / hypothalamic pilocytic astrocytomas, and brainstem gliomas. Neurosurgical roles vary for different kinds of pediatric gliomas. Read More

Neuro Oncol 2021 May 27. Epub 2021 May 27.

Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis MO.

Background: Emerging insights from numerous laboratories have revealed important roles for non-neoplastic cells in the development and progression of brain tumors. One of these non-neoplastic cellular constituents, glioma-associated microglia (GAM), represents a unique population of brain monocytes within the tumor microenvironment that have been reported to both promote and inhibit glioma proliferation. To elucidate the role of GAM in the setting of low-grade glioma (LGG), we leveraged RNA sequencing meta-analysis, genetically engineered mouse strains, and human biospecimens. Read More

J Family Med Prim Care 2021 Mar 8;10(3):1341-1346. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Department of Radiology, North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.

Background: Gliomas account for 45% of all intracranial tumors. Newer technologies have allowed deeper genetic and epigenetic analysis leading to the discovery of IDH (Isocitrate dehydrogenase) mutations and their association with ATRX (alpha-thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked) and p53, for better diagnosis and prognosis. In this study, we analysed their expression and correlated with various clinicopathological parameters. Read More

Adv Exp Med Biol 2021 ;1311:59-76

Department of Pathology and Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) develops on glial cells and is the most common as well as the deadliest form of brain cancer. As in other cancers, distinct combinations of genetic alterations in GBM subtypes induce a diversity of metabolic phenotypes, which explains the variability of GBM sensitivity to current therapies targeting its reprogrammed metabolism. Therefore, it is becoming imperative for cancer researchers to account for the temporal and spatial heterogeneity within this cancer type before making generalized conclusions about a particular treatment's efficacy. Read More

Bratisl Lek Listy 2021 ;122(6):367-370

Objectives: Due inter alia to wide-spread cell lines cross-contamination it is not clear, which kind of normal or tumoral tissue give rise to permanent cell lines.

Backround: Few permanent cell lines have been established from low-grade astrocytomas. However, recently some of these have been identified as being cross-contaminated with other cell lines. Read More

Front Hum Neurosci 2021 6;15:620439. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Functional Neurosurgery Research Center, Shohada Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is associated with peripheral and central nervous system tumors. It is noteworthy that the regions in which these tumors frequently arise are the optic pathways (OPs) and the brainstem. Thus, we decided to trace the procedure of diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) alterations along with Short-Wavelength Automated Perimetry (SWAP) examinations of the OPs after surgery and chemotherapy over 1 year, which enabled us to evaluate chemotherapy's efficacy in an NF1 patient with an OP tumor. Read More

Ann Med Surg (Lond) 2021 May 15;65:102300. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Department of Surgery, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan.

Introduction: and Importance: Adult Pilocytic Astrocytomas (APA) are infrequent low grade tumors. While supratentorial APA is considered rare, insular APA is extremely rare.

Case Presentation: We present a case of pure insular APA along with surgical outcomes. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2021 Apr 6;22(7). Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.

Due to the increasing incidence of malignant gliomas, particularly glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a simple and reliable GBM diagnosis is needed to screen early the death-threaten patients. This study aimed to identify a protein that can be used to discriminate GBM from low-grade astrocytoma and elucidate further that it has a functional role during malignant glioma progressions. To identify proteins that display low or no expression in low-grade astrocytoma but elevated levels in GBM, glycoprotein fibronectin (FN) was particularly examined according to the mining of the Human Protein Atlas. Read More

Cancer Metab 2021 Apr 28;9(1):18. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology (LIM 15), Department of Neurology, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 01246-903, Brazil.

Background: Glioblastoma is the most frequent and high-grade adult malignant central nervous system tumor. The prognosis is still poor despite the use of combined therapy involving maximal surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Metabolic reprogramming currently is recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer. Read More

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2021 Apr 1;22(4):1129-1136. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.

Background: To evaluate the role of diffusion MRI in differentiating pediatric posterior fossa tumors and determine the cut-off values of ADC ratio to distinguish medulloblastoma from other common tumors.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed MRI of 90 patients (7.5-year median age) with pathologically proven posterior fossa tumors (24 medulloblastoma, 7 ependymoma, 4 anaplastic ependymoma, 13 pilocytic astrocytoma, 30 diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), 4 ATRT, 3 diffuse astrocytoma, 2 high grade astrocytoma, 2 glioblastoma, and 1 low grade glioma). Read More

Clin Neuroradiol 2021 Apr 26. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany.

Purpose: To explore the focal predictability of vascular growth factor expression and neovascularization using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in glioma.

Methods: 120 brain biopsies were taken in vital tumor, infiltration zone and normal brain tissue of 30 glioma patients: 17 IDH(isocitrate dehydrogenase)-wildtype glioblastoma (GBM), 1 IDH-wildtype astrocytoma °III (together prognostic group 1), 3 IDH-mutated GBM (group 2), 3 anaplastic astrocytomas IDH-mutated (group 3), 4 anaplastic oligodendrogliomas and 2 low-grade oligodendrogliomas (together prognostic group 4). A mixed linear model evaluated the predictabilities of microvessel density (MVD), vascular area ratio (VAR), mean vessel size (MVS), vascular endothelial growth factor and receptors (VEGF-A, VEGFR‑2) and vascular endothelial-protein tyrosine phosphatase (VE-PTP) expression from Tofts model kinetic and model-free curve parameters. Read More

Zh Vopr Neirokhir Im N N Burdenko 2021 ;85(2):34-46

Burdenko Neurosurgical Center, Moscow, Russia.

Complex management of patients with intracranial pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) consists of surgical treatment, drug therapy (mainly in young children) and radiotherapy. For many years, radiotherapy (RT) has been a standard for residual tumors, recurrence or continued growth of PA. Currently, stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy are preferred for PA, because these procedures are characterized by high conformity and selectivity, precise irradiation of tumor with minimal damage to surrounding intact tissues. Read More

Biomedicine (Taipei) 2020 28;10(1):21-27. Epub 2020 Mar 28.

Medical Biology Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.

Background: Primary brain tumors (PBTs) include any tumor in the brain whose prognosis is weak because of their histological characteristics.

Aim: Herein, this study aimed to assess the HER2 tumor marker frequency in PBTs.

Materials And Methods: This study was done on the samples of primary brain tumor diagnosis from 2008 to 2015. Read More

Front Oncol 2021 25;11:566972. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Center South University, Changsha, China.

Purpose: The role of surgical resection in the treatment of brainstem glioma (BSG) is poorly understood. For pediatric low-grade (LGBSG) group, several monocentric small-scale retrospective studies reported contradictory conclusions. And there was no clinical study focused on surgical resection for adult or pediatric high-grade (HG) patient groups. Read More

BMC Cancer 2021 Apr 9;21(1):391. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, 277 YanTa West Road, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, China.

Background: Astrocytoma is a common type of central nervous system tumor. In this study, we investigated the correlation between ST6GAL1 and CYP19A1 polymorphisms and the risk and prognosis of astrocytoma.

Methods: A total of 365 astrocytoma patients and 379 healthy controls were genotyped using the Agena MassARRAY system. Read More

Clin Neuropathol 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Few cases of malignant transformation of supposedly low-grade gliomas were described in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). A 27-year-old man with NF1 presented with weakness of his lower extremities and was radiologically found to have a spinal intramedullary tumor primarily involving the Th11 level. The tumor histologically demonstrated features diagnosed as a low-grade astrocytoma, subtype indeterminate (WHO grade II). Read More

Mymensingh Med J 2021 Apr;30(2):315-322

Dr Prasun Biswas, Lecturer, Department of Pathology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh; E-mail:

Astrocytoma is the commonest primary brain tumor. These are feared due to their invasiveness in brain parenchyma so are less amenable to surgical removal and current chemotherapy regimens with a high mortality rate. Cell adhesion molecule (CAM) E-cadherin (CDH1) downregulation has been associated with tumors of different system and organs featuring invasion and metastasis. Read More

J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 2021 Apr;80(5):431-435

From the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Numerous recent studies have demonstrated that the vast majority of IDH-wildtype astrocytomas with WHO grade II/III histology have clinical outcomes equivalent to IDH-wildtype glioblastomas. This has called into question the existence of an IDH-wildtype lower-grade astrocytoma (LGA) category, and the cIMPACT-NOW study group has suggested 3 molecular features which, if present, warrant upgrading IDH-wildtype LGA to glioblastoma: EGFR amplification, 7+/10-, and TERT promoter mutation. Herein, we evaluate the clinical, histologic, and molecular features of IDH-wildtype low-grade astrocytomas, defined here as infiltrative adult astrocytoma lacking histologic features of glioblastoma (microvascular proliferation and/or necrosis), IDH1/2 mutation, and all 3 of the cIMPACT-NOW update 3 factors. Read More

Cancer Biol Ther 2021 Mar 5;22(3):184-195. Epub 2021 Apr 5.

Department of Clinical Genetics and Genomics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Here we report a case of an 11-year-old girl with an inoperable tumor in the optic chiasm/hypothalamus, who experienced several tumor progressions despite three lines of chemotherapy treatment. Routine clinical examination classified the tumor as a -negative pilocytic astrocytoma. Copy-number variation profiling of fresh frozen tumor material identified two duplications in 9q21. Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2021 Mar 23;13(6). Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Diagnostic & Research Center for Molecular BioMedicine, Department of Neuropathology, Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology, Medical University Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstrasse 6, 8010 Graz, Austria.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an utterly devastating cerebral neoplasm and current therapies only marginally improve patients' overall survival (OS). The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway participates in gliomagenesis through regulation of cell growth and proliferation. Since it is an upstream regulator of the rate-limiting translation initiation step of protein synthesis, controlled by eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs), we aimed for a profound basic characterization of 17 eIFs to identify potential novel therapeutic targets for gliomas. Read More

Biomed Opt Express 2021 Mar 1;12(3):1761-1773. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.

High-grade gliomas have a diffuse and infiltrative nature of the growth of tumor cells, due to which the achievement of radical resection is difficult. Surgical resection completeness of brain tumors is an important factor in prolonging the life of patients. An accurate definition of tumor boundaries and residual fluorescent regions is impossible due to imperfections of the equipment used for fluorescent imaging. Read More

Chin Neurosurg J 2021 Apr 1;7(1):22. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Radiation Oncology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100070, China.

Background: As molecular advances have deepened the knowledge on low-grade glioma (LGG), we investigated the effect of higher radiation dose on the survival of IDH-wildtype (IDHwt) LGG.

Methods: In the current study, 52 IDHwt LGG patients who received radiotherapy were enrolled from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas dataset. Radiation doses > 54 Gy were defined as high-dose, whereas doses ≤ 54 Gy were defined as low-dose. Read More

Clin Transl Radiat Oncol 2021 May 22;28:32-38. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

Department of Radiation Oncology (Maastro), GROW School for Oncology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Background And Purpose: Proton therapy is expected to outperform photon-based treatment regarding organs at risk (OAR) sparing but to date there is no method to practically measure clinical benefit. Here, we introduce the novel ROCOCO Performance Scoring System (RPSS) translating dose differences into clinically relevant endpoints and apply this to a treatment plan comparison of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) in 20 pilocytic astrocytoma patients.

Material And Methods: The RPSS was developed on the basis of expert-based weighting factors and toxicity scores per OAR. Read More

Neuro Oncol 2021 Mar 19. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Cancer Survival Group, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.

Introduction: Global variations in survival for brain tumours are very wide when all histological types are considered together. Appraisal of international differences should be informed by the distribution of histology, but little is known beyond Europe and North America.

Patients And Methods: The source for the analysis was the CONCORD data base, a programme of global surveillance of cancer survival trends, which includes the tumour records of individual patients from more than 300 population-based cancer registries. Read More

Mol Clin Oncol 2021 Apr 12;14(4):70. Epub 2021 Feb 12.

Neuro-Oncology Unit, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Meyer Children's University Hospital, I-50139 Florence, Italy.

Pediatric high-grade glioma (HGG) is a type of malignancy that carries a poor prognosis. The genetic analysis of HGGs has previously identified useful mutations, the targeting of which has improved prognosis. Thus, further research into the more common mutations, such as H3 histone variants (HIST1H3B and H3F3A) and BRAF V600E, may be useful in identifying tumors with different prognoses, as the mutations are considered to drive two distinct oncogenic programs. Read More

World Neurosurg 2021 Jun 17;150:e378-e387. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Department of Neurosurgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA; Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, California, USA.

Objective: We describe our single-institutional experience with magnetic resonance-guided stereotactic laser ablation (SLA) for the treatment of newly diagnosed and recurrent pediatric brain tumors.

Methods: Eighteen consecutive ablation procedures were performed in 17 patients from March 2016-April 2020. Patient demographics, indications, procedures, neuroimaging features, and outcomes were reviewed retrospectively. Read More

World Neurosurg 2021 Jun 9;150:e236-e252. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Computational Neuroscience Outcomes Center, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Background: The occurrence of pregnancy in patients with low-grade glioma (LGG) constitutes a unique therapeutic challenge. Owing to the rarity of cases, there is a dearth of information in existing literature.

Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients with a diagnosis of LGG and pregnancy at some point during their illness. Read More

Mod Pathol 2021 Mar 10. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.

WHO 2016 classified glioblastomas into IDH-mutant and IDH-wildtype with the former having a better prognosis but there was no study on IDH-mutant primary glioblastomas only, as previous series included secondary glioblastomas. We recruited a series of 67 IDH-mutant primary glioblastomas/astrocytoma IV without a prior low-grade astrocytoma and examined them using DNA-methylation profiling, targeted sequencing, RNA sequencing and TERT promoter sequencing, and correlated the molecular findings with clinical parameters. The median OS of 39. Read More

Adv Radiat Oncol 2021 Jan-Feb;6(1):100577. Epub 2020 Oct 26.

Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Purpose: Previous trials have shown no benefit for radiation therapy (RT) dose escalation when RT is given as adjuvant monotherapy for infiltrative low-grade glioma (LGG). However, the current standard of care for high-risk LGG is RT with concurrent and/or adjuvant chemotherapy. The effect of RT dose escalation on overall survival (OS) in the setting of concurrent and/or adjuvant chemotherapy is not well established. Read More

Surg Neurol Int 2021 17;12:62. Epub 2021 Feb 17.

Department of Neurosurgery, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Background: Citation analysis reflects the scientific recognition and influential performance of a published article within its field. We aim to identify the top 100 most-cited articles on astrocytoma using this bibliometric analysis method.

Methods: In May 2020, we performed a thorough search in the Scopus database using the word "Astrocytoma. Read More