Molecular analysis of diffuse intrinsic brainstem gliomas in adults

Diffuse intrinsic brainstem gliomas (DIBG) account for 1–2 % of adult gliomas. Their biological characteristics are scarcely understood and whether DIBG are biologically different from supratentorial gliomas remains to be established. We analyzed 17 DIBG samples for IDH1 R132H, alpha internexin, p53, and Ki67 expression, and, in a subset with sufficient DNA amount, for IDH1 and histone H3 mutational status, genomic profiling and MGMT promoter methylation status. A series of 738 adult supratentorial gliomas was used for comparison. Median age at diagnosis was 41 years (range 18.9–65.3 years). Median overall survival was 48.7 months (57 months for low-grade vs. 16 months for high-grade gliomas, p