Tobacco smoking associates with NF1 mutations exacerbating survival outcomes in gliomas

Xi Li; Han Yan; Jun Wu; Longbo Zhang

doi:10.1186/s40364-022-00430-z

Tobacco smoking associates with NF1 mutations exacerbating survival outcomes in gliomas

Biomark Res. 2022 Nov 9;10(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s40364-022-00430-z.

Authors

Xi Li^{1

2}, Han Yan³, Jun Wu^{4

5}, Longbo Zhang^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Hunan Key Laboratory of Pharmacogenetics, Central South University, 410008, Changsha, China.
² National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China.
³ Department of Pharmacy, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410011, Changsha, China.
⁴ National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China. jianjuncs@foxmail.com.
⁵ Departments of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410008, Changsha, China. jianjuncs@foxmail.com.
⁶ Departments of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 410008, Changsha, China. longbo.zhang@yale.edu.
⁷ Departments of Neurosurgery, and Cellular & Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine, LH 403, 333 Cedar Street, CT, 06520-8082, New Haven, USA. longbo.zhang@yale.edu.

Abstract

Tobacco smoking is associated with increased risks of nearly 20 types of cancer. Although the association between smoking and gliomas, the most prevalent type of adult brain tumor, is still unconclusive, here, we found that the frequency of NF1 mutations was significantly increased in the glioma patients with smoking history compared to non-smoking patients (24% vs. 10%, P = 0.021). NF1 acts as a tumor suppressor gene is highly mutated in gliomas. The TCGA data analysis indicated that glioma patients carrying NF1 somatic mutations have worse overall survival (median survival time: smoking 19.9 months vs. non-smoking 36.8 month; P = 0.0018). In addition, we revealed that the NF1 and IDH1 mutations were mutually exclusive suggesting NF1 mutation has independent molecular mechanism involved in glioma biology.

Keywords: Glioma; NF1 gene; Tobacco smoking.

Publication types

Letter