Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations are beginning to drive decisions on therapy for glioma patients. Here we sought to determine the impact of adjuvant treatment in patients with IDH-mutant, 1p/19q non-codeleted secondary high-grade astrocytoma (sHGA) WHO grades III/IV. Clinical data of 109 sHGA patients grades III/IV, in addition to IDH mutation-, 1p/19q-codeletion- and MGMT-promoter methylation status-were retrospectively analyzed. Survival analysis in relation to adjuvant treatment modalities and molecular profiling were performed. Out of 109 patients, 88 patients (80.7 %) harbored IDH mutations, 30 patients had a 1p/19q-codeletion (27.5 %) and 69 patients (63.3 %) exhibited a methylated MGMT-promoter status. At a median follow-up of 9.8 years, 62 patients (57 %) died. The postsurgical treatment included: radio-chemotherapy (RT-CT; 54.5 %), RT alone (19.3 %), and CT alone (22.7 %). The median overall survival (OS) in the entire group was 3.4 years (1.9-6.7 years). Patients who received RT-CT had a significantly longer OS compared with those who underwent RT alone (6.5 vs. 1.2 years, HR 0.35, CI 0.32-0.51, p = 0.011). In the IDH-mutant 1p/19q non-codeleted sHGA subgroup the RT-CT cohort had a significantly longer OS in comparison to the RT cohort (6.4 vs. 1.2 years, HR 2.7, CI 1.1-6.5, p = 0.022). In the stepwise multivariable Cox model for OS of all 88 IDH-mutant sHGA patients, survival was strongly associated with only one factor, namely, adjuvant RT-CT at diagnosis of a sHGA. This retrospective long-term study demonstrates that RT and CT (mostly PCV) significantly improves progression-free and overall survival in IDH-mutant secondary high-grade astrocytoma patients, regardless of 1p/19q-codeletion status.
Keywords: 1p/19q-codeletion; IDH mutation; PCV MGMT-promoter status; Radio-chemotherapy; Secondary high-grade astrocytomas.