Developments related to glioblastoma diagnostics and liquid biopsy
| Year | Author | Probe | Method | Tumor | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | Bailey and Cushing [3] | Tumor resection | Neurosurgery, histology, classification | GBM | Developed modern neurosurgery and classification of brain tumors, coined the term “glioblastoma multiforme” |
| 1991, 1992 | Eibl and Wiestler [8], Eibl et al. [9], Wiestler et al. [10] | Animal models | Oncogene transfer into neural grafts | Gliomas, PNETs | Rat tumor models, (reviewed in [11]) |
| 1992 | von Deimling, Eibl et al. [12] | Frozen tumor sample | SSCP | Astrocytoma II, III | TP53 mutations are not a late event in astrocytic tumor development |
| 1993 | Louis et al. [13] | Frozen tumor sample | SSCP | Astrocytoma II, III GBM | TP53 mutations in astrocytic tumors, incl. GBM |
| 1993 | Ohgaki et al. [14] | Frozen tumor sample | SSCP | PA I | Absence of TP53 mutations in pilocytic astrocytoma |
| 2003 | Balaña et al. [15] | ctDNA | PCR to detect methylated MGMT | GBM | Methylated MGMT predicts response to alkylating chemotherapy |
| 2014 | Bettegowda et al. [16] | ctDNA | Digital PCR, sequencing | Different cancers, incl. glial tumors | ctDNA detection |
| 2014 | Sullivan et al. [17] | CTC | Removing leukocytes from blood | GBM | Detection of CTCs in GBM |
| 2016 | Louis et al. [4] | Tumor sample | Transcriptome | Nervous system tumors | Paradigm shift in diagnostics from histology to transcriptomics |
| 2016 | Underhill et al. [18] | ctDNA | Experimental study | Human GBM cells in rat brain | Fragmentomics: ctDNA fragments are shorter (134–144 bp) than normal cfDNA (167 bp) |
| 2016 | Donaldson and Park [19] | ctDNA | Observational study | NSCLC | FDA approval [20] for mutated EGFR test on liquid biopsy |
| 2017 | Yasui et al. [21] | EV | Nanowire | GBM | Detection of EVs in urinary |
| 2021 | Louis et al. [5] | Tumor sample | Transcriptome, methylome | NEW: astrocytoma IV (formerly secondary glioblastoma) and GBM | WHO 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
We gratefully acknowledge the introduction into the field of brain tumor research by Otmar D. Wiestler and the late Paul Kleihues, as well as discussions with Irving L. Weissman and Eugene C. Butcher on immune and tumor cell migration and metastasis, and Catherine Alix-Panabières on liquid biopsy.
RHE: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. MS: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—review & editing. Both of the authors read and approved the submitted version.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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© The Author(s) 2023.