ANKARA
A scientific study has shown that genomic profiling of meningiomas, the most common primary brain tumor, hold the key for custom-tailored treatment options for patients with such tumors, which are currently treated only surgically.
According to the study published online by an international team of researchers led by Yale School of Medicine scientists in the latest edition of the journal Science, knowledge of the genomic profile of the tumors and their location in the brain make it possible for the first time to develop personalized medical therapies for meningiomas.
Approximately half of the tumors have already been linked to a mutation in or deletion of a gene called neurofibromin 2, or NF2. The origins of the rest of the meningiomas had remained a mystery until the Yale team, after genomically analyzing 300 meningioma cases, discovered four new genetic suspects, each of which yields clues to the origins and treatment of the condition.
Each specific gene causes mutations in tumors so that they are located in different areas of the brain, which can indicate how likely they are to become malignant.
"Combining knowledge of these mutations with the location of tumor growth has direct clinical relevance and opens the door for personalized therapies," said Murat Gunel, Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery and professor of genetics and of neurobiology, and senior author of the study.
Doctors may be able to use targeted chemotherapy on meningioma patients harboring non- NF2 mutations, especially those with recurrent or invasive meningiomas and those who are surgically at high risk.
Individualized chemotherapies could also spare patients irradiation treatment, a risk factor for progression of these generally benign tumors. Gunel said it may also be possible to extend these approaches to more malignant tumors.
Gunel told the Anadolu Agency that the findings of the study has been shared with hospitals in Turkey and they would be used in Turkish patients' treatments.
Funding for the study was provided by Turkey-based Gregory M. Kiez and Mehmet Kutman foundations.
