Abstract
BACKGROUND
We integrated clinical, histopathological, and molecular data of central nervous system germ cell tumors to provide insights into their management.
METHODS
Data from the Intracranial Germ Cell Tumor Genome Analysis Consortium were reviewed. A total of 190 cases were classified as primary GCTs based on central pathological reviews.
RESULTS
All but one of the cases that were bifocal (neurohypophysis and pineal glands) and cases with multiple lesions including neurohypophysis or pineal gland were germinomas (34 of 35). Age was significantly higher in patients with germinoma than other histologies. Comparison between tumor marker and histopathological diagnoses showed that 18.2% of histopathologically diagnosed germinomas were marker-positive and 6.1% of non-germinomatous GCTs were marker-negative, suggesting a limitation in the utility of markers or histopathology alone using small specimens for diagnosis. Comparison between local and central histopathological diagnoses revealed a discordance of 12.7%. Discordance was significantly less frequent in biopsy cases, implying difficulty in detecting all histopathological components of heterogeneous GCTs. Germinomas at the typical sites (neurohypophysis or pineal gland) showed a better PFS than those at atypical sites (p=0.03). A molecular-clinical association study revealed frequent MAPK pathway mutations in males (51.4 vs 14.3 %, p=0.007), and PI3K/mTOR pathway mutations in basal ganglia cases (p=0.004). Basal ganglia cases also had frequent chromosomal losses. Some chromosomal aberrations (2q, 8q gain, 5q, 9p/q, 13q, 15q loss) showed potential prognostic significance.
CONCLUSIONS
These in-depth findings of this study regarding the clinical and molecular heterogeneity will increase our understanding of the pathogenesis of this enigmatic tumor.
Identification in the human central nervous system, pituitary, and thyroid of a novel calcitonin gene-related peptide, and partial amino acid sequence in the spinal cord.
