[Molecular biology, diagnosis, and therapy of meningiomas]

Meningiomas are the most frequent primary intracranial tumors. While about 80% are benign, slow-growing tumors, approximately 20% are characterized by aggressive biology, increased recurrence rate, and overall impaired prognosis. Over the last five years, several new findings on the molecular pathology of meningiomas have been published, suggesting a relationship between certain somatic mutations and both tumor localization and histological variant. The newly introduced methylation-based classification of prognostic subgroups will improve the assessment of the individual clinical course in meningioma patients.