Intratumour heterogeneity poses a challenge for the stratification of patients with glioblastoma (GBM). MRI, which is commonly used for diagnosis and assessment of response to treatment, was explored as a non-invasive tool to subclassify risk groups. Three clusters were identified: pre-multifocal, spherical and rim-enhancing. Each cluster was associated with a distinct molecular signature. Significant differences were detected in survival probability for each cluster; having pre-multifocal GBM was associated with the poorest survival rate, whereas patients with rim-enhancing GBM had the best survival rate. These results indicate that MRI can be used as a non-invasive tool to stratify patients with GBM to different treatment options.
References
Itakura, H. et al. Magnetic resonance image features identify glioblastoma phenotypic subtypes with distinct molecular pathway activities. Sci. Transl. Med. 7, 303ra138 (2015)
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MRI—a new approach to identify glioblastoma subtypes. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 12, 623 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2015.164
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2015.164