High Incidence of MGMT and RARβ Promoter Methylation in Primary Glioblastomas: Association with Histopathological Characteristics, Inflammatory Mediators and Clinical Outcome

摘要

The successful treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a life-threatening intracranial malignant tumor, is hindered by difficulties in early diagnosis, rapid progression and frequent recurrence. Since the methylation status of specific gene loci can be used as a prognostic tool for different tumor types, Piperi et al . examined four genes involved in glioma tumorigenesis: MGMT, RARβ, RASSF1A and CDH13 . The authors found that two of these genes, MGMT and RARβ were significantly more methylated in 70.58% and 58.8% of analysed GBM cases, respectively. This study also highlights a potential link between methylation patterns and IL-6, suggesting a specific role for inflammation mediators in the regulation of gene methylation. These results could generate new insight regarding patient survival and treatment options for this devastating disease.