Comparative Assessment of 4 Methods to Analyze MGMT Status in a Series of 121 Glioblastoma Patients

Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2017 Aug;25(7):497-504. doi: 10.1097/PAI.0000000000000331.

Abstract

The O-methylguanine-DNA-methyltranferase (MGMT) status is a powerful predictor of response to temozolomide for newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) patients, and it is commonly assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC), methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP), quantitative real-time MSP (qMSP), and/or pyrosequencing (PSQ). This study was to compare their predictive power of prognosis in 121 newly diagnosed GBM patients using multivariate Cox regression with bootstrapping. MGMT status tested by IHC, MSP, qMSP, or PSQ all showed significant correlation with the progression-free survival and overall survival of GBM patients. The predictive power of IHC for progression-free survival and overall survival was lower than those of the methylation assays, but their differences were not significant. Performing additional methylation assay, especially PSQ, could better predict the prognosis of patients with IHC- tumors. MGMT status tested by IHC, MSP, qMSP, or PSQ all showed prognostic significance. An additional MGMT methylation assay, of which PSQ appeared to be the best, could improve the predictive power for GBM patients with MGMT IHC- tumors.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Neoplasms* / enzymology
  • Brain Neoplasms* / mortality
  • Brain Neoplasms* / pathology
  • DNA Modification Methylases / metabolism*
  • DNA Repair Enzymes / metabolism*
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Glioblastoma* / enzymology
  • Glioblastoma* / mortality
  • Glioblastoma* / pathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neoplasm Proteins / metabolism*
  • Survival Rate
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • DNA Modification Methylases
  • MGMT protein, human
  • DNA Repair Enzymes