Serum albumin levels and serum albumin-globulin ratio are associated with poor prognosis in glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Serum albumin levels (ALB) and albumin-globulin ratio (AGR) are reliable and convenient markers of the nutritional status and inflammation of human body, and ALB has been identified as a prognostic factor in the patients of glioblastoma (GBM). However, no literature has reported the prediction value of AGR for GBM. METHODS: In this study we evaluate the serum ALB and AGR levels for GBM. A total of 126 patients with GBM who underwent surgical resection in our institution between 2013 and 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical information was obtained from electronic medical records. Multiple logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the prediction value of preoperative ALB and AGR for GBM. RESULTS: Preoperative ALB (HR 0.342, 95% CI, 0.123-0.954, P=0.040) and postoperative adjuvant therapy (HR 0.042, 95% CI, 0.005-0.330, P=0.003) were significantly related to progression-free survival (PFS). Cox regression analysis showed the significance of adjuvant therapy (HR 3.579, 95% CI, 2.236-5.729, P<0.001). Preoperative AGR (HR 0.280, 95% CI, 0.103-0.763, P=0.013) and adjuvant therapy (HR 0.156, 95% CI, 0.047-0.513, P=0.002) were showed significance, and Cox regression analysis showed preoperative AGR (HR 1.810, 95% CI, 1.095-2.992, P=0.021) and adjuvant therapy (HR 4.702, 95% CI, 2.841-7.782, P<0.001) were independent predictors of overall survival (OS). CONCLUSIONS: The ALB and AGR had significant predictive values for the prognosis of GBM; postoperative adjuvant treatment is also an independent predictor for the prognosis of GBM patients.

Low LINC00599 expression is a poor prognostic factor in glioma.

LINC00599 has been suggested to be involved in physiological and pathological processes including carcinogenesis. However, the clinical and prognostic significance of LINC00599 in glioma patients and the effect of LINC00599 on glioma cell migration and invasion remain unknown. In our results, we first observe the expression of LINC00599 in 31 types of human cancers including tumor tissues and corresponding normal tissues at The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and found that LINC00599 expression levels were only reduced in lower grade glioma (LGG) tissues and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tissues compared with normal brain tissues. Moreover, we confirmed levels of LINC00599 expression were decreased in glioma tissues and cell lines compared with matched adjacent normal tissues and normal human astrocytes (NHAs), respectively. Meanwhile, we found that glioma tissues with WHO III-IV grade exhibited lower levels of LINC00599 expression than glioma tissues with I-II grade. The survival analysis at TCGA data showed low LINC00599 expression was associated with poor disease-free survival and overall survival in glioma patients. In vitro study suggested up-regulation of LINC00599 depressed glioma cell migration and invasion through regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. In conclusion, LINC00599 acts as a tumor-suppressing long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in glioma.

A histopathologic diagnosis of brain lymphangiomyoma, clinically misdiagnosed as simple angiomyxoma: case report.

INTRODUCTION: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare disease which affects women of reproductive age almost exclusively as one of the most gender-specific diseases, and which can occur at any site in the body but most commonly in the lungs. Here we report a rare case of recurrent brain lymphangiomyoma which was misdiagnosed as angiomyxoma. CASE PRESENTATION: A 28-year-old male complained of finding a recurrent mass at the right temporal lobe of his brain for the last 4 months. He had undergone a resection of a brain mass two years prior. One year after the operation, the mass recurred again and was resected another time. Both of the operations were performed in another hospital and he was postoperatively diagnosed with angiomyxoma. This time the patient underwent a third operation in our hospital to remove the lesion, which was confirmed as lymphangiomyoma. Unfortunately, the patient again discovered a re-emerging mass at the primary operation site on the 50th day post-surgically. CONCLUSION: There is currently no effective cure for LAM and treatment options and relevant literature remain limited. Hence other potential therapeutic targets need to be identified.