TERT Alterations Predict Tumor Progression in De Novo High-Grade Meningiomas Following Adjuvant Radiotherapy

Jiaojiao Deng; Shuchen Sun; Jiawei Chen; Daijun Wang; Haixia Cheng; Hong Chen; Qing Xie; Lingyang Hua; Ye Gong

doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.747592

TERT Alterations Predict Tumor Progression in De Novo High-Grade Meningiomas Following Adjuvant Radiotherapy

Front Oncol. 2021 Oct 29:11:747592. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.747592. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jiaojiao Deng^{1

2

3}, Shuchen Sun^{1

2

3}, Jiawei Chen^{1

2

3}, Daijun Wang^{1

2

3}, Haixia Cheng⁴, Hong Chen⁴, Qing Xie^{1

2

3}, Lingyang Hua^{1

2

3}, Ye Gong^{1

2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Institute of Neurosurgery, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
³ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Function Restoration and Neural Regeneration, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Neuropathology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) is one of the most commonly used treatments for de novo high-grade meningiomas (HGMs) after surgery, but genetic determinants of clinical benefit are poorly characterized.

Objective: We describe efforts to integrate clinical genomics to discover predictive biomarkers that would inform adjuvant treatment decisions in de novo HGMs.

Methods: We undertook a retrospective analysis of 37 patients with de novo HGMs following RT. Clinical hybrid capture-based sequencing assay covering 184 genes was performed in all cases. Associations between tumor clinical/genomic characteristics and RT response were assessed. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results: Among the 172 HGMs from a single institution, 42 cases (37 WHO grade 2 meningiomas and five WHO grade 3 meningiomas) were identified as de novo HGMs following RT. Only TERT mutations [62.5% C228T; 25% C250T; 12.5% copy number amplification (CN amp.)] were significantly associated with tumor progression after postoperative RT (adjusted p = 0.003). Potential different somatic interactions between TERT and other tested genes were not identified. Furthermore, TERT alterations (TERT-alt) were the predictor of tumor progression (Fisher's exact tests, p = 0.003) and were associated with decreased PFS (log-rank test, p = 0.0114) in de novo HGMs after RT.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that TERT-alt is associated with tumor progression and poor outcome of newly diagnosed HGM patients after postoperative RT.

Keywords: TERT alterations; adjuvant radiotherapy; de novo; high-grade meningiomas; prognosis.