Developments related to glioblastoma diagnostics and liquid biopsy

YearAuthorProbeMethodTumorMilestone
1926Bailey and Cushing [3]Tumor resectionNeurosurgery, histology, classificationGBMDeveloped modern neurosurgery and classification of brain tumors, coined the term “glioblastoma multiforme”
1991, 1992Eibl and Wiestler [8], Eibl et al. [9], Wiestler et al. [10]Animal modelsOncogene transfer into neural graftsGliomas, PNETsRat tumor models, (reviewed in [11])
1992von Deimling, Eibl et al. [12]Frozen tumor sampleSSCPAstrocytoma II, IIITP53 mutations are not a late event in astrocytic tumor development
1993Louis et al. [13]Frozen tumor sampleSSCPAstrocytoma II, III GBMTP53 mutations in astrocytic tumors, incl. GBM
1993Ohgaki et al. [14]Frozen tumor sampleSSCPPA IAbsence of TP53 mutations in pilocytic astrocytoma
2003Balaña et al. [15]ctDNAPCR to detect methylated MGMTGBMMethylated MGMT predicts response to alkylating chemotherapy
2014Bettegowda et al. [16]ctDNADigital PCR, sequencingDifferent cancers, incl. glial tumorsctDNA detection
2014Sullivan et al. [17]CTCRemoving leukocytes from bloodGBMDetection of CTCs in GBM
2016Louis et al. [4]Tumor sampleTranscriptomeNervous system tumorsParadigm shift in diagnostics from histology to transcriptomics
2016Underhill et al. [18]ctDNAExperimental studyHuman GBM cells in rat brainFragmentomics: ctDNA fragments are shorter (134–144 bp) than normal cfDNA (167 bp)
2016Donaldson and Park [19]ctDNAObservational studyNSCLCFDA approval [20] for mutated EGFR test on liquid biopsy
2017Yasui et al. [21]EVNanowireGBMDetection of EVs in urinary
2021Louis et al. [5]Tumor sampleTranscriptome, methylomeNEW: astrocytoma IV (formerly secondary glioblastoma) and GBMWHO classification: introducing astrocytoma IV and molecular definition of GBM (even without typical histological features)

CTC: circulating tumor cell; EV: extracellular vesicle; PNETs: primitive neuroectodermal tumors; SSCP: single-strand conformation polymorphism; PA I: pleomorphic adenoma I; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; ctDNA: circulating tumor DNA; MGMT: O6-methylguanine-methyltransferase; cfDNA: cell-free DNA; NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer; FDA: Food and Drug administration; WHO: World Health Organization