Molecular profiling of oligodendrogliomas: impact on prognosis, treatment, and future directions

Oligodendrogliomas account for a small subset of all gliomas, but they often are more sensitive to treatment than other glioma subtypes. In addition, oligodendrogliomas are the first central nervous system neoplasm for which a specific molecular abnormality, allelic loss of 1p/19q (1p/19q loss), correlates with patient outcome in large-scale prospective clinical trials. However, the incorporation of 1p/19q status into clinical practice remains controversial. Other molecular alterations found in oligodendrogliomas include hypermethylation of the promoter for the MGMT gene, TP53 mutations, EGFR and platelet-derived growth factor/PDGFR alterations, and 9p and 10q loss.