Glial tumors

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a fatal, fast-growing, and aggressive brain tumor arising from glial cells or their progenitors. It is a primary malignancy with a poor prognosis. The current study aims at evaluating the neuroradiological parameters of de novo GBM by analyzing the brain multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) scans acquired from a publicly available database analysis of the scans. METHODS: The dataset used was the mpMRI scans for de novo glioblastoma (GBM) patients from the University of Pennsylvania Health System, called the UPENN-GBM dataset...

Astrocytes are glial cells that play key roles in neuroinflammation, which is a common feature in diabetic encephalopathy and aging process. Metformin is an antidiabetic compound that shows neuroprotective properties, including in inflammatory models, but astroglial signaling pathways involved are still poorly known. Interferons α/β are cytokines that participate in antiviral responses and the lack of their signaling increases susceptible to viral infections. Here, we investigated the effects of metformin on astrocytes from hypothalamus, a crucial brain region related to inflammatory processes...

BACKGROUND: Brain tumors are one of the leading causes of epilepsy, and brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE) is recognized as the major cause of intractable epilepsy, resulting in huge treatment cost and burden to patients, their families, and society. Although optimal treatment regimens are available, the majority of patients with BTRE show poor resolution of symptoms. BTRE has a very complex and multifactorial etiology, which includes several influencing factors such as genetic and molecular biomarkers...

Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) extend the survival of glioblastoma (GBM) patients by interfering with a broad range of tumor cellular processes. Among these, TTFields disrupt primary cilia stability on GBM cells. Here we asked if concomitant treatment of TTFields with other agents that interfere with GBM ciliogenesis further suppress GBM cell proliferation in vitro. Aurora kinase A (AURKA) promotes both cilia disassembly and GBM growth. Inhibitors of AURKA, such as Alisertib, inhibit cilia disassembly and increase ciliary frequency in various cell types...

We aimed to determine the prognostic values of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, systemic immune-inflammation index, body mass index, and prognostic nutritional index scores in patients with high-grade glioma. This was a retrospective observational case series. Between 2015 and 2020, 79 patients with high-grade gliomas 2 oncology centers were included in our study. All patients (n = 79) had high-grade glial tumors and were treated with RT. Sixty-nine (87.3%) patients died, and the median 2 years overall survival was 12...

In the evolving landscape of ependymoma classification, which integrates histological, molecular, and anatomical context, we detail a rare case divergent from the usual histopathological spectrum. We present the case of a 37-year-old man with symptomatic spinal cord compression at the L3-L4 level. Neuroradiological evaluation revealed an intradural, encapsulated mass. Histologically, the tumor displayed atypical features: bizarre pleomorphic giant cells, intranuclear inclusions, mitotic activity, and a profusion of eosinophilic cytoplasm with hyalinized vessels, deviating from the characteristic perivascular pseudorosettes or myxopapillary patterns...

Breast cancer is a significant global health concern, with the overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/ERBB2) being a driver oncogene in 20%-30% of cases. Indeed, HER2/ERBB2 plays a crucial role in regulating cell growth, differentiation, and survival via a complex signaling network. Overexpression of HER2/ERBB2 is associated with more aggressive behavior and increased risk of brain metastases, which remains a significant clinical challenge for treatment. Recent research has highlighted the role of breast cancer secretomes in promoting tumor progression, including excessive proliferation, immune invasion, and resistance to anti-cancer therapy, and their potential as cancer biomarkers...

BACKGROUND: Amino acid PET is recommended for the initial diagnosis of brain lesions, but its value for identifying aggressive lesions remains to be established. The current study therefore evaluates the added-value of dynamic [18 F]FDOPA PET as an adjunct to conventional MRI for determining the aggressiveness of presumed glial lesions at diagnosis. METHODS: Consecutive patients, with a minimal 1 year-follow-up, underwent contrast-enhanced MRI (CE MRI) and dynamic [18 F]FDOPA PET to characterize their suspected glial lesion...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the therapeutic effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats and the influence of Notch/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway. METHODS: A total of 40 10-week-old male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were selected to establish T 10 -segment SCI model by a free falling object. Among them, 32 successful models were randomly divided into model group and bFGF group, with 16 in each group...

Although histone proteins are widely known for their intranuclear functions where they organize DNA, all five histone types can also be released into the extracellular space from damaged cells. Extracellular histones can interact with pattern recognition receptors of peripheral immune cells, including toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), causing pro-inflammatory activation, which indicates they may act as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in peripheral tissues. Very limited information is available about functions of extracellular histones in the central nervous system (CNS)...

The disruption of astrocytic catabolic processes contributes to the impairment of amyloid-β (Aβ) clearance, neuroinflammatory signaling, and the loss of synaptic contacts in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). While it is known that the posttranslational modifications of Aβ have significant implications on biophysical properties of the peptides, their consequences for clearance impairment are not well understood. It was previously shown that N-terminally pyroglutamylated Aβ3(pE)-42, a significant constituent of amyloid plaques, is efficiently taken up by astrocytes, leading to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α and synapse loss...

BACKGROUND: Pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) is a benign glial tumor predominately seen in pediatrics and early adolescence with associated overall good outcomes. Very few cases of elderly PA have been reported in the literature, and they are known to display unique anatomic, histologic, and genetic peculiarities distinct from pediatric disease. We report a rare case of vermian PA in an octogenarian with recurrent spontaneous intratumoral hemorrhage as a presenting symptom. Furthermore, a review of the literature on the peculiarities of PA in the elderly will be discussed...

Cognitive dysfunction following anesthesia with agents such as sevoflurane is a significant clinical problem, particularly in elderly patients. This study aimed to explore the protective effects of the phytochemical syringaresinol (SYR) against sevoflurane-induced cognitive deficits in aged Sprague-Dawley rats and to determine the underlying mechanisms involved. We assessed the impact of SYR on sevoflurane-induced cognitive impairment, glial activation, and neuronal apoptosis through behavioral tests (Morris water maze), immunofluorescence, Western blotting for key proteins involved in apoptosis and inflammation, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-6...

High-grade gliomas (HGGs) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are characterized by a heterogeneous and aggressive population of tissue-infiltrating cells that promote both destructive tissue remodeling and aberrant vascularization of the brain. The formation of defective and permeable blood vessels and microchannels and destructive tissue remodeling prevent efficient vascular delivery of pharmacological agents to tumor cells and are the significant reason why therapeutic chemotherapy and immunotherapy intervention are primarily ineffective...

Medulloblastoma (MB) is a highly malignant childhood brain tumor. Group 3 MB (Gr3 MB) is considered to have the most metastatic potential, and tailored therapies for Gr3 MB are currently lacking. Gr3 MB is driven by PRUNE-1 amplification or overexpression. In this paper, we found that PRUNE-1 was transcriptionally regulated by lysine demethylase LSD1/KDM1A. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of inhibiting both PRUNE-1 and LSD1/KDM1A with the selective inhibitors AA7.1 and SP-2577, respectively...

We explored the genomic events underlying central neurocytoma (CN), a rare neoplasm of the central nervous system, via multiomics approaches, including whole-exome sequencing, bulk and single-nuclei RNA sequencing, and methylation sequencing. We identified FGFR3 hypomethylation leading to FGFR3 overexpression as a major event in the ontogeny of CN that affects crucial downstream events, such as aberrant PI3K-AKT activity and neuronal development pathways. Furthermore, we found similarities between CN and radial glial cells based on analyses of gene markers and CN tumor cells and postulate that CN tumorigenesis is due to dysregulation of radial glial cell differentiation into neurons...

EGFR amplification in gliomas is commonly defined by an EGFR/CEP7 ratio of ≥2. In testing performed at a major reference laboratory, a small subset of patients had ≥5 copies of both EGFR and CEP7 yet were not amplified by the EGFR/CEP7 ratio and were designated high polysomy cases. To determine whether these tumors are more closely related to traditionally defined EGFR-amplified or nonamplified gliomas, a retrospective search identified 22 out of 1143 (1.9%) gliomas with an average of ≥5 copies/cell of EGFR and CEP7 with an EGFR/CEP7 ratio of <2 displaying high polysomy...

BACKGROUND: Microglial isolation and culturing methods continue to be explored to maximize cellular yield, purity, responsiveness to stimulation and similarity to in vivo microglia. This study aims to evaluate five different microglia isolation methods-three variants of microglia isolation from neonatal mice and two variants of microglia isolation from adult mice-on transcriptional profile and response to HMGB1. METHODS: Microglia from neonatal mice, age 0-3 days (P0-P3) were isolated from mixed glial cultures (MGC)...

Dementia is characterized by acquired cognitive dysfunction caused by various neurological disorders. Many neurological conditions can cause dementia, including neurodegenerative diseases, vascular disorders, infections, inflammation, demyelination, intoxication, metabolic disorders, tumors, and head trauma. Despite recent developments in biomarkers and imaging techniques, neuropathological examination is necessary for the final diagnosis. Moreover, approximately 11% of the patients with dementia have dual or triple pathological conditions...

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous syncytial myoepithelioma (CSM) is an uncommon and distinct variant of cutaneous myoepithelioma. We aim to present a case of CSM to enhance the recognition of this unique variant, encompassing its clinical characteristics, histopathological features, immunohistochemical staining, and therapeutic approaches. CASE PRESENTATION: A 10-year-old girl presented with a dome-shaped nodule located on the skin of her left medial distal arm. Microscopic examination of the skin biopsy revealed a well-defined dermal nodular lesion, surrounded by an epidermal collarette...