Copy Number Gain of 1q25 Predicts Poor Progression-Free Survival for Pediatric Intracranial Ependymomas and Enables Patient Risk Stratification: A Prospective European Clinical Trial Cohort Analysis on Behalf of the Children's Cancer Leukaemia Group (CCLG), Société Française d'Oncologie Pédiatriq... (original) (raw)

Current and evolving knowledge of prognostic factors for pediatric ependymomas

Future Oncology, 2013

Ependymomas are one of the most common pediatric malignant brain tumors. Prognosis, especially in young children, remains poor due to their inherent chemo- and radio-resistance and effective treatment remains one of the more difficult tasks in pediatric oncology: up to half of the patients may die from the disease. The only reproducible prognostic factor is the extent of surgery; neither histological grading nor other biomarkers can be used to reliably make treatment decisions in clinical practice. None of the studies identifying new biomarkers have been conducted prospectively, only few have been undertaken within the context of a clinical trial and most have been conducted with limited samples (often including adults and childhood samples). International collaboration is needed to improve ependymoma prognostication.

Second series by the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology of children and adolescents with intracranial ependymoma: an integrated molecular and clinical characterization with a long-term follow-up

Neuro-Oncology, 2020

Background A prospective 2002–2014 study stratified 160 patients by resection extent and histological grade, reporting results in 2016. We re-analyzed the series after a median of 119 months, adding retrospectively patients’ molecular features. Methods Follow-up of all patients was updated. DNA copy number analysis and gene-fusion detection could be completed for 94/160 patients, methylation classification for 68. Results Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) at 5/10 years were 66/58%, and 80/73%. Ten patients had late relapses (range 66–126 mo), surviving after relapse no longer than those relapsing earlier (0–5 y). On multivariable analysis a better PFS was associated with grade II tumor and complete surgery at diagnosis and/or at radiotherapy; female sex and complete resection showed a positive association with OS. Posterior fossa (PF) tumors scoring ≥0.80 on DNA methylation analysis were classified as PFA (n = 41) and PFB (n = 9). PFB patients had better PFS ...

Multifactorial analysis of predictors of outcome in pediatric intracranial ependymoma

Neuro-Oncology, 2008

Pediatric ependymomas are enigmatic tumors, and their clinical management remains one of the more difficult in pediatric oncology. The identification of biological correlates of outcome and therapeutic targets remains a significant challenge in this disease. We therefore analyzed a panel of potential biological markers to determine optimal prognostic markers. We constructed a tissue microarray from 97 intracranial tumors from 74 patients (WHO grade II-III) and analyzed the candidate markers nucleolin, telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT; antibody clone 44F12), survivin, Ki-67, and members of the receptor tyrosine kinase I (RTK-I) family by immunohistochemistry. Telomerase activity was determined using the in vitro-based telomere repeat amplification protocol assay, and telomere length was measured using the telomere restriction fragment assay. Primary tumors with low versus high nucleolin protein expression had a 5-year event-free survival of 74% 6 13% and 31% 6 7%, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified low nucleolin expression to be independently associated with a more favorable prognosis (hazard ratio 5 6.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-24.2; p 5 0.008). Ki-67 and survivin correlated with histological grade but not with outcome. Immunohistochemical detection of the RTK-I family did not correlate with grade or outcome. Telomerase activity was evident in 19 of 22 primary tumors, with telo mere lengthening and/or maintenance occurring in five of seven recurrent cases. Low nucleolin expression was the single most important biological predictor of outcome in pediatric intracranial ependymoma. Furthermore, telo merase reactivation and maintenance of telomeric repeats appear necessary for childhood ependymoma progression. These findings require corroboration in a clinical trial setting. Neuro-Oncology 10, 675-689, 2008 (Posted to Neuro-Oncology [serial online], Doc. 07-00243, August 13, 2008

Optimising biomarkers for accurate ependymoma diagnosis, prognostication and stratification within International Clinical Trials: A BIOMECA study

ABSTRACTBackgroundAccurate identification of brain tumour molecular subgroups is increasingly important. We aimed to establish the most accurate and reproducible ependymoma subgroup biomarker detection techniques, across 147 cases from International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) Ependymoma II trial participants, enrolled in the pan-European “Biomarkers of Ependymoma in Children and Adolescents (BIOMECA)” study.MethodsAcross six European BIOMECA laboratories we evaluated epigenetic profiling (DNA methylation array); immunohistochemistry (IHC) for nuclear p65-RELA, H3K27me3, and Tenascin-C; copy number analysis via FISH and MLPA (1q,CDKN2A), and MIP and DNA methylation array (genome-wide copy number evaluation); analysis ofZFTA-andYAP1-fusions by RT-PCR and sequencing, Nanostring and break-apart FISH.ResultsDNA Methylation profiling classified 65.3% (n=96/147) of cases as EPN-PFA and 15% (n=22/147) as ST-ZFTA fusion-positive. Immunohistochemical loss of H3K27me3 was a reproduci...

EPEN-03. Pediatric Intracranial Ependymoma: Correlation of Symptoms and Signs at Recurrence with Outcome in the Second Prospective Aieop Protocol Follow-Up

Neuro-Oncology, 2018

Pineoblastoma (PB) is a rare but aggressive pediatric brain tumour arising from the pineal gland. Outcomes remain dismal with long-term survival rates between 10-40% despite intensive treatment regimens. Although germline RB1 and DICER1 alterations have been reported in a small proportion of PB, the clinical significance of such alterations and the biology of sporadic cases remains unknown. We undertook global methylation profiling of 75 PB cases, and discovered that PBs comprise four molecular subtypes, designated groups 1 to 4 with characteristic copy number alterations and mutational patterns. Molecular subgroups of PB also exhibited distinct clinical features and survival outcomes. While PBs group 1-3 arose in older children (median ages 5.2-12.6 years), group 4 PB was restricted to much younger children (median age 1.4 years). Group 4 PB exhibited the highest incidence of metastases (53%) and had the worst 5-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS), respectively 7.7% and 16.7%. In contrast, group 2 patients had a 5-year EFS and OS of 100%, while group 1 and 3 had intermediate outcomes (68.1%, 53.3% respectively). These findings demonstrate significant clinical and molecular heterogeneity in PB and underscore the critical need to define mechanisms underlying PB, so that precise patient stratification and selection of biology-informed therapies can be undertaken in future clinical trials.

Integrating Tenascin-C protein expression and 1q25 copy number status in pediatric intracranial ependymoma prognostication: A new model for risk stratification

PloS one, 2017

Despite multimodal therapy, prognosis of pediatric intracranial ependymomas remains poor with a 5-year survival rate below 70% and frequent late deaths. This multicentric European study evaluated putative prognostic biomarkers. Tenascin-C (TNC) immunohistochemical expression and copy number status of 1q25 were retained for a pooled analysis of 5 independent cohorts. The prognostic value of TNC and 1q25 on the overall survival (OS) was assessed using a Cox model adjusted to age at diagnosis, tumor location, WHO grade, extent of resection, radiotherapy and stratified by cohort. Stratification on a predictor that did not satisfy the proportional hazards assumption was considered. Model performance was evaluated and an internal-external cross validation was performed. Among complete cases with 5-year median follow-up (n = 470; 131 deaths), TNC and 1q25 gain were significantly associated with age at diagnosis and posterior fossa tumor location. 1q25 status added independent prognostic va...

Prognostic marker analysis in pediatric intracranial ependymomas

Journal of Neuro-Oncology, 2015

Histologic grading methods dependent upon H&E staining review have not been shown to reliably predict survival in children with intracranial ependymomas due to the subjectivity of the analytical methods. We hypothesized that the immunohistochemical detection of MIB-1, Tenascin C, CD34, VEGF, and CA IX may represent objective markers of post-operative survival (Progression Free and Overall Survival; PFS, OS) in these patients. Intracranial ependymomas from patients aged 22 years or less were studied. The original histologic grade was recorded, H&E sections were reviewed for vascular proliferation status, and immunohistochemistry was used to determine MIB-1, Tenascin C, CD34, VEGF, and CA IX status. Based upon the World Health Organization (WHO) grading system, 3 Grade I, 18 Grade II and 9 Grade III ependymomas were studied. Median follow-up time was 9.0 years; median PFS was, 6.1 years. Original WHO grade did not correlate with PFS or OS. Peri-necrotic CA IX localization correlated with PFS (Log rank = 0.0181) and OS (Log rank p = 0.0015). All patients with a CA IX B 5 % total area localization were alive at last follow-up. Perinecrotic CA IX staining was also associated with vascular proliferation (p = 0.006), though not with VEGF expression score. MIB-1 labeling index (LI) correlated with OS (HR 1.06, 95 % CI 1.01, 1.12) and PFS (HR 1.08, 95 % CI 1.02, 1.14). MIB-1 LI and perinecrotic CA IX individually correlated with PFS. The effect of perinecrotic CA IX remained when grade was added to a Cox model predicting PFS. Immunodetection of CA IX and MIB-1 expression are predictive biomarkers for survival in children with posterior fossa ependymomas. These markers represent objective indicators of survival that supplement H&E grading alone.

Rethinking childhood ependymoma: a retrospective, multi-center analysis reveals poor long-term overall survival

Journal of neuro-oncology, 2017

Ependymoma is the third most common brain tumor in children, but there is a paucity of large studies with more than 10 years of follow-up examining the long-term survival and recurrence patterns of this disease. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 103 pediatric patients with WHO Grades II/III intracranial ependymoma, who were treated at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and Chicago's Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital between 1985 and 2008, and an additional 360 ependymoma patients identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. For the institutional cohort, we evaluated clinical and histopathological prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using the log-rank test, and univariate and multivariate Cox proportional-hazards models. Overall survival rates were compared to those of the SEER cohort. Median follow-up time was 11 years. Ten-year OS and PFS were 50...

Histopathological grading of pediatric ependymoma: reproducibility and clinical relevance in European trial cohorts

Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine, 2011

Background: Histopathological grading of ependymoma has been controversial with respect to its reproducibility and clinical significance. In a 3-phase study, we reviewed the pathology of 229 intracranial ependymomas from European trial cohorts of infants (2 trials-SFOP/CNS9204) and older children (2 trials-AIEOP/CNS9904) to assess both diagnostic concordance among five neuropathologists and the prognostic utility of histopathological variables, particularly tumor grading. Results: In phase 1, using WHO criteria and without first discussing any issue related to grading ependymomas, pathologists assessed and independently graded ependymomas from 3 of 4 trial cohorts. Diagnosis of grade II ependymoma was less frequent than grade III, a difference that increased when one cohort (CNS9204) was reassessed in phase 2, during which the pathologists discussed ependymoma grading, jointly reviewed all CNS9204 tumors, and defined a novel grading system based on the WHO classification. In phase 3, repeat independent review of two cohorts (SFOP/CNS9904) using the novel system was associated with a substantial increase in concordance on grading. Extent of tumor resection was significantly associated with progression-free survival (PFS) in SFOP and AIEOP, but not in CNS9204 and CNS9904. Strength of consensus on grade was significantly associated with PFS in only one trial cohort (AIEOP). Consensus on the scoring of individual histopathological features (necrosis, angiogenesis, cell density, and mitotic activity) correlated with PFS in AIEOP, but in no other trial. Conclusions: We conclude that concordance on grading ependymomas can be improved by using a more prescribed scheme based on the WHO classification. Unfortunately, this appears to have utility in limited clinical settings.