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Updated: Jun 7, 2026
Isolation and Flow Cytometric Analysis of Glioma-infiltrating Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
Published on: November 28, 2015
Glioblastoma in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis
Jillian M Berkman1, Vihang Nakhate1, L Nicolas Gonzalez Castro2
1Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Background:
Although rare, the co-occurrence of multiple sclerosis (MS) and glioma poses unique challenges in terms of diagnosis and management for both neurologists and neuro-oncologists.
Methods:
Here we report on a single-center cohort of four patients with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis who developed gliomas.
Results:
Our cohort reflects the epidemiology of glioma in terms of the relative frequency of IDH-wildtype and IDH-mutant cases. The patients in 3 out of the 4 cases presented did not develop their tumors in areas of pre-existing demyelinating lesions.
Conclusions:
We did not find evidence to support the hypothesis that chronic gliosis from demyelinating plaques may serve as a substrate for secondary induction of a glial neoplasm. In our Discussion, we provide recommendations for distinguishing neoplastic from demyelinating lesions, review the evidence for demyelination as a risk factor for gliomagenesis, and highlight important considerations for the concurrent management of glioma and MS.
