Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology
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J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. · Dec 2002
Genetic alterations commonly found in diffusely infiltrating cerebral gliomas are rare or absent in pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas.
Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is a rare, usually well-circumscribed and superficially located neoplasm that preferentially arises in the cerebral cortex of children and young adults. The molecular aberrations that are associated with these tumors have not been studied systematically so far. We here report on a molecular genetic analysis of 62 PXAs (46 PXAs of World Health Organization [WHO] grade II and 16 PXAs with anaplastic features) for alterations of 5 candidate genes known to be frequently aberrant in diffusely infiltrating astrocytic gliomas, i.e. ⋯ Further analysis of 10 PXAs for inactivation of the CDKN2A. p14(ARF), and CDKN2B (p15(INK4b)) genes on 9p21 did not reveal any homozygous deletion, mutation, promoter hypermethylation, or complete loss of mRNA expression. Taken together, our results indicate that the chromosomal and genetic aberrations in PXAs are different from those typically associated with the diffusely infiltrating astrocytic and oligodendroglial gliomas. These genetic differences likely contribute to the more favorable behavior of PXAs and may be helpful for the molecular differential diagnosis of cerebral gliomas.