On the Concepts and History of Glioblastoma Multiforme - Morphology, Genetics and Epigenetics

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a grade IV WHO malignant tumor with astrocytic differentiation. As one of the most common clinically diagnosed central nervous system (CNS) oncological entries, there have been a wide variety of historical reports of the description and evolution of ideas regarding these tumors. The first recorded reports of gliomas were given in British scientific reports, by Berns in 1800 and in 1804 by Abernety, with the first comprehensive histomorphological description being given in 1865 by Rudolf Virchow. In 1926 Percival Bailey and Harvey Cushing gave the base for the modern classification of gliomas. Between 1934 and 1941 the most prolific researcher in glioma research was Hans-Joachim Scherer, who postulated some of the clinico-morphological aspects of GBM. With the introduction of molecular and genetic tests the true multifomity of GBM has been established, with different genotypes bearing the same histomorphological and IHC picture, as well as some of the aspects of gliomagenesis. For a GBM to develop, a specific trigger mutation needs to occur in a GBM stem cell - primary GBM, or a slow aggregation of individual mutations, without a distinct trigger mutation - secondary GBM. Knowledge of GBM has been closely related to general medical knowledge of the CNS since these malignancies were first described more than 200 years ago. Several great leaps have been made in that time, in the footsteps of both CNS and advancements in general medical knowledge.