Background And Objectives: Intracranial epidermoid cysts are rare, slow-growing but highly recurrent tumors with incompletely understood symptoms, progression, complications, and outcomes. The aim of the study was to characterize the symptomatology, surgical management, and long-term outcomes of these tumors.
Methods: This single-center retrospective analysis identified patients with pathologically confirmed intracranial epidermoid cysts from 1989 to 2023.
Background: Despite recent advances in the biology of IDH-wildtype glioblastoma, it remains a devastating disease with median survival of less than 2 years. However, the molecular underpinnings of the heterogeneous response to the current standard-of-care treatment regimen consisting of maximal safe resection, adjuvant radiation, and chemotherapy with temozolomide remain unknown.
Methods: Comprehensive histopathologic, genomic, and epigenomic evaluation of paired initial and recurrent glioblastoma specimens from 106 patients was performed to investigate the molecular evolution and cellular phenotypes underlying differential treatment responses.
Objective: There is persistent debate in the literature surrounding the true predictors of biochemical remission after resection of somatotroph adenoma. A multimodal analysis of a large number of patients is needed to better understand which patients may be at higher or lower risk for remission failure after surgery.
Methods: A retrospective review was performed on patients undergoing somatotroph adenoma resection.
Hyaluronic acid (HA), the primary component of brain extracellular matrix, is increasingly used to model neuropathological processes, including glioblastoma (GBM) tumor invasion. While elastic hydrogels based on crosslinked low-molecular-weight (LMW) HA are widely exploited for this purpose and have proven valuable for discovery and screening, brain tissue is both viscoelastic and rich in high-MW (HMW) HA, and it remains unclear how these differences influence invasion. To address this question, hydrogels comprised of either HMW (1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Radiation necrosis is becoming an increasingly prevalent complication in patients with brain tumors given the growing utility of stereotactic radiosurgery in modern treatment paradigms. Magnetic resonance-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (MRgLITT) is a new minimally invasive modality that has exhibited an efficacy comparable to craniotomy in treating radiation necrosis. No studies to date have compared their cost-effectiveness despite the significant additional expenses associated with MRgLITT use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile glioblastoma (GBM) progression is associated with extensive extracellular matrix (ECM) secretion, the causal contributions of ECM secretion to invasion remain unclear. Here we investigate these contributions by combining engineered materials, proteomics, analysis of patient data, and a model of bevacizumab-resistant GBM. We find that GBM cells cultured in engineered 3D hyaluronic acid hydrogels secrete ECM prior to invasion, particularly in the absence of exogenous ECM ligands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumor-associated neutrophil (TAN) effects on glioblastoma (GBM) biology remain under-characterized. We show here that neutrophils with dendritic features-including morphological complexity, expression of antigen presentation genes, and the ability to process exogenous peptide and stimulate major histocompatibility complex (MHC)II-dependent T cell activation-accumulate intratumorally and suppress tumor growth in vivo. Trajectory analysis of patient TAN scRNA-seq identifies this "hybrid" dendritic-neutrophil phenotype as a polarization state that is distinct from canonical cytotoxic TANs, and which differentiates from local precursors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Postoperative hyponatremia is a known complication of intracranial surgery, which can present with depressed mental status. Hyponatremia resulting in focal neurologic deficits is less frequently described.
Case Description: We describe a patient who, after a bifrontal craniotomy for olfactory groove meningioma, developed acute hyponatremia overnight with a decline in mental status from Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score 15 to GCS 7 and a unilateral fixed dilated pupil.
Hyaluronic acid (HA), the primary component of brain extracellular matrix, is increasingly used to model neuropathological processes, including glioblastoma (GBM) tumor invasion. While elastic hydrogels based on crosslinked low-molecular-weight (LMW) HA are widely exploited for this purpose and have proven valuable for discovery and screening, brain tissue is both viscoelastic and rich in high-MW (HMW) HA, and it remains unclear how these differences influence invasion. To address this question, hydrogels comprised of either HMW (1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile glioblastoma (GBM) progression is associated with extensive extracellular matrix (ECM) secretion, the causal contributions of ECM secretion to invasion remain unclear. Here we investigate these contributions by combining engineered materials, proteomics, analysis of patient data, and a model of bevacizumab-resistant GBM. We find that GBM cells cultured in engineered 3D hyaluronic acid hydrogels secrete ECM prior to invasion, particularly in the absence of exogenous ECM ligands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Infratentorial glioblastoma(itGBM) is a rare and rapidly progressive form of GBM with poor prognosis. However, no studies have adequately examined itGBM outcomes in elderly patients (>65 years). Here, we used a national database to fill this knowledge gap.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlioblastoma is a clinically and molecularly heterogeneous disease, and new predictive biomarkers are needed to identify those patients most likely to respond to specific treatments. Through prospective genomic profiling of 459 consecutive primary treatment-naïve IDH-wildtype glioblastomas in adults, we identified a unique subgroup (2%, 9/459) defined by somatic hypermutation and DNA replication repair deficiency due to biallelic inactivation of a canonical mismatch repair gene. The deleterious mutations in mismatch repair genes were often present in the germline in the heterozygous state with somatic inactivation of the remaining allele, consistent with glioblastomas arising due to underlying Lynch syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlioblastomas (GBMs) are highly invasive brain tumors replete with brain- and blood-derived macrophages, collectively known as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Targeting TAMs has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy but has thus far yielded limited clinical success in slowing GBM progression, due in part to an incomplete understanding of TAM function in GBM. Here, by using an engineered hyaluronic acid-based 3D invasion platform, patient-derived GBM cells, and multi-omics analysis of GBM tumor microenvironments, we show that M2-polarized macrophages stimulate GBM stem cell (GSC) mesenchymal transition and invasion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile the poor prognosis of glioblastoma arises from the invasion of a subset of tumor cells, little is known of the metabolic alterations within these cells that fuel invasion. We integrated spatially addressable hydrogel biomaterial platforms, patient site-directed biopsies, and multiomics analyses to define metabolic drivers of invasive glioblastoma cells. Metabolomics and lipidomics revealed elevations in the redox buffers cystathionine, hexosylceramides, and glucosyl ceramides in the invasive front of both hydrogel-cultured tumors and patient site-directed biopsies, with immunofluorescence indicating elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) markers in invasive cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The aim of this study was to examine associations between genomic alterations in brain metastases and common preoperative imaging findings including overt intratumoral hemorrhage, cystic features, and edema.
Methods: A single-center, retrospective study was performed including patients who underwent surgical resection of brain metastasis with available preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Next-generation sequencing of more than 500 coding genes was performed on the resected brain metastases.
Objective: Intraventricular meningiomas (IVMs) of the lateral ventricle are rare tumors that present surgical challenges because of their deep location. Visual field deficits (VFDs) are one risk associated with these tumors and their treatment. VFDs may be present preoperatively due to the tumor and mass effect (tumor VFDs) or may develop postoperatively due to the surgical approach (surgical VFDs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the 2022 fifth edition of the WHO Classification of Endocrine Tumours and of Central Nervous System Tumours, pituitary adenomas are reclassified as neuroendocrine tumours (NETs). This change confers an oncology label to neoplasms that are overwhelmingly benign. A comprehensive clinical classification schema is required to guide prognosis, therapy and outcomes for all patients with pituitary adenomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Central nervous system (CNS)-penetrant systemic therapies have significantly advanced care for patients with melanoma brain metastases. However, improved understanding of the molecular landscape and microenvironment of these lesions is needed to both optimize patient selection and advance treatment approaches.
Objective: To evaluate how bulk and single-cell genomic features of melanoma brain metastases are associated with clinical outcome and treatment response.
Objective: The relationship between brain metastasis resection and risk of nodular leptomeningeal disease (nLMD) is unclear. This study examined genomic alterations found in brain metastases with the aim of identifying alterations associated with postoperative nLMD in the context of clinical and treatment factors.
Methods: A retrospective, single-center study was conducted on patients who underwent resection of brain metastases between 2014 and 2022 and had clinical and genomic data available.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate associations between genomic alterations in resected brain metastases and rapid local and distant CNS recurrence identified at the time of postoperative adjuvant radiosurgery.
Methods: This was a retrospective study on patients who underwent resection of intracranial brain metastases. Next-generation sequencing of more than 500 coding genes was performed on brain metastasis specimens.