This is the first multicenter study ever conducted in Indonesia; IDH1 and MGMT status were examined in 327 specimens that diagnosed with WHO-based diagnosis for glioma tumors. A total of 117 of the 327 samples analyzed turned out to have heterozygous mutations in the 132 IDH1 codon that specifically changed from arginine to histidine; Omer et al., showed a variation in the percentage of mutant IDH1 R132H for gliomas from several countries in Asia 11 Dwianingsih et al.,12 in 2017, showed that IDH1 mutations are highly identified in Indonesian glioma patients, as high as 74% (37/50), and significantly correlated with grading.12,13 Study results suggest that most adult gliomas in Indonesia are wildtype, encouraging demand for adjuvant therapy facilities.
Cytosolic IDH1 mutation on the diffuse astrocytic tumor was one of the main biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of glioma.14–17 In this study, an immunochemistry test used anti-IDH1R132H staining on post-operative or biopsy paraffin blocks. Mutation of IDH1 on codon 132 was identified in 50 out of 126 samples (39.7%).10 Several studies observed the catalysis of minor substitution of amino acids R132S, R132C, E132G, and R132L in patients with positive IDH1-R132H staining. Similar phenomena were observed in patients with WHO grade II, III, and WHO grade IV (glioblastoma).18
Regarding overall survival, with a total of 36 months follow-up in our study, 63.87% of subjects with IDH1 mutant survived compared to 30.44% in subjects with IDH1 wild type. An observational study conducted by Tabei et al., in 2020 with a total of 174 patients with a newly diagnosed glioma showed a median OS after first progression at 13.5 and 10.5 months, respectively, for mutant IDH1 and wildtype IDH1.19 The evidence of better OS for IDH1 mutant patients is also supported by a meta-analysis of 55 observational studies conducted by Cheng in 2013.20
Age
Molinaro et al., in 2019 found that patients diagnosed with diffuse astrocytic glioma at a relatively young age are most likely IDH-mutant astrocytoma. On the other hand, individuals diagnosed at an older age are most likely to have an IDH-wild type astrocytoma. As previously mentioned, the IDH-mutant has better overall survival.21 Therefore, we might have a rough idea about the type and patient prognostic by knowing the age at diagnosis. Our study also found a younger population within the IDH1 mutant cohort than in the IDH1 wildtype cohort (42.33 ± 12.45 vs. 44.48 ± 16.77, respectively). Other studies also revealed that IDH1 mutant was found in younger patients with significant differences to those with IDH1 wild type.
WHO Grade
WHO classification of adult diffuse gliomas has been modified several times.1,2 The evidence has suggested that IDH1 WT is associated with TERT promoter mutation, EGFR amplification, a gain of chromosome 7, and chromosome 10 deletion, which belongs to the hallmarks of glioblastoma.2,21 The clinical behavior and genetic profile of IDH1 WT lead to a consensus for grouping all IDH1 WT as glioblastoma (WHO Grade IV) for easing the clinical trial and encouraging more aggressive treatment for this group of patients.2,21
Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS)
KPS was a widely used performance assessment of cancer patients. A low KPS score is a predictor of survival.22 Our findings support its use in long-term prognosis (p = 0.0208). At the time of surgery, most patients had a KPS score greater than 70, while a small group with a KPS score lower than 70 had a much worse survival rate. IDH1 wild type exhibited a lower KPS than IDH1 mutant patients.23 From the author's perspective, only a few studies compared KPS to determine patient prognostic in either IDH mutant or wild type. However, Mandel et al., showed that low KPS was found more frequently in the IDH-1 wild type than in the IDH1 mutant.4 On the other hand, a retrospective study conducted by Zheng et al., showed that the mean length of overall survival was greater in patients with higher KPS scores rather than in patients with lower KPS scores.24
MGMT Status
Temozolomide is known to disrupt DNA replication in tumors by alkylating the guanine. The enzyme O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) removes alkyl groups from guanine at the O6 site, counteracting TMZ. Methylation of the MGMT increasing TMZ effectiveness.25,26 This disparity in the biological importance of MGMT promoter methylation is most likely due to the varied distribution of IDH mutations among these tumors rather than the grade of malignancy itself.23 In terms of overall survival, with a total of 36 months follow-up in our study, 80.33% of subjects with IDH1 Mut MGMT methylated, 68.02% of subjects with IDH1 WT MGMT methylated, 32.92% of subjects with IDH1 Mut MGMT unmethylated; survived compared to in subjects with 21.35% IDH1 WT MGMT unmethylated.
Other biomarkers
Molecular diagnostics can produce patient-specific medicines that target distinct oncogenic pathways, whereas histopathological analysis can provide a generic classification of glioma grade.27 Chromosome 7 amplification (associated with chromosome 10 deletion) and EGFR amplification were found in 100 percent and 97 percent of classic glioblastoma cases, respectively.28 There were also NF1-containing localized hemizygous deletions at 17q11.2 in most mesenchymal cases and elevated expression of genes linked to necrosis and inflammation.29 There have also been other biomarkers that have emerged. Periostin and PDL-1 are of particular interest.
Periostin is a matricellular fascilin-like protein first identified as a periodontal ligament component.27 Despite the early identification that the periostin gene is one of the most elevated genes in GBM compared to the normal brain, more is needed to know about periostin's prognostic or functional importance in human gliomas. Its expressions were examined by quantitative real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry.30 Faried et al., conducted a meta-analysis that showed that high periostin expression might help predict the overall survival of the patients.31 These findings confirm periostin's possible role in glioma malignancy; however, the methods by which periostin contributes to glioma malignancy need to be investigated further.
Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PDL-1) is a protein encoded in the CD274 gene.32 The expression of PDL-1 can be detected by immunohistochemistry. A study by July et al., stated that high expression of PDL-1 is associated with shorter survival in gliomas.34 Both anaplastic astrocytoma and GBM groups showed better survival when PD-L1 expression was negative (estimated survival was 27 months within the range 17.9–36.1 months and 12 months within the range 9.3–14.7, respectively) when compared to PD-L1 positive group (estimate survival was 17 and 4.5 months, respectively).33 L-type amino acid transporter-1 (LAT-1) is a recently expressed biomarker to predict prognosis in gliomas.34 Study conducted by Faried et al., showed that high expression of LAT-1 is associated with poor survival in glioma patients; hence, it can increase proliferation in malignant glial cells and contribute to further activation of PDL-1, which further increases the proliferation of glioma.35
Study limitation
This study has several intrinsic limitations. Firstly, this is due to its retrospective character, the possibility for inherent bias, as well as the small size of the cohort, given the unusual nature of the researched entity. Although various risk variables for the development of diffuse astrocytic gliomas, such as age, gender, KPS, WHO grading, and molecular analysis, were considered.