Proscillaridin A is cytotoxic for glioblastoma cell lines and controls tumor xenograft growth in vivo.

Glioblastoma is the most frequent primary brain tumor in adults. Because of molecular and cellular heterogeneity, high proliferation rate and significant invasive ability, prognosis of patients is poor. Recent therapeutic advances increased median overall survival but tumor recurrence remains inevitable.

Evidence for new targets and synergistic effect of metronomic celecoxib/fluvastatin combination in pilocytic astrocytoma.

Background: Pilocytic astrocytomas occur predominantly in childhood. In contrast to the posterior fossa location, hypothalamo-chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas display a worse prognosis often leading to multiple surgical procedures and/or several lines of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to achieve long-term control. Hypothalamo-chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas and cerebellar pilocytic astrocytomas have a distinctive gene signature and several differential expressed genes (ICAM1, CRK, CD36, and IQGAP1) are targets for available drugs: fluvastatin and/or celecoxib.

[Glial and glioneuronal tumors in adults and children: main genetic alterations and towards a histomolecular classification].

Glial and glioneuronal tumors in children and adult demonstrate distinctive clinical, neuroradiological and molecular features depending on the pathological subtype and within a same subgroup according to the age. In children, gliomas are mainly located in the infratentorial part of the brain. They are most often benign and circumscribed but infiltrative tumors with dismal prognosis are recorded within the pons (DIGP) or the thalamus.

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors share with pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas and gangliogliomas BRAF(V600E) mutation and expression.

Pediatric cortical glioneuronal benign tumors mainly include gangliogliomas (GG) [differential diagnoses pilocytic astrocytomas (PA) and pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas (PXA)] and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNT). DNT include the specific form and the controversial non-specific form that lack the specific glioneuronal element. Our aims were to search for BRAF(V600E) mutation and CD34 expression in DNT, PXA, GG and PA to correlate BRAF(V600E) mutation with BRAF(V600E) expression and to evaluate their diagnostic and prognostic values.

Search for distinctive markers in DNT and cortical grade II glioma in children: same clinicopathological and molecular entities?

Background: Dysembryoplastic Neuroepithelial Tumours (DNT) are benign brain lesions arising during childhood that are characterized by early onset partial seizures, no neurological deficit and cortical location. Pathological diagnosis is easy when the glioneuronal element is present. Its absence might lead to the diagnosis of non-specific DNT or low-grade glioma (LGG).