RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Unraveling morphology, methylation profiling, and diagnostic challenges in BRAF-Mutant pediatric glial and glioneuronal tumors
JF Neurosciences Journal
JO Neurosciences (Riyadh)
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 168
OP 176
DO 10.17712/nsj.2024.3.20230108
VO 29
IS 3
A1 Alturkustani, Murad
YR 2024
UL http://nsj.org.sa/content/29/3/168.abstract
AB Objectives: To elucidate the relationship between DNA methylation profiling (DMP) and pathological diagnosis (PD) in pediatric glial and glioneuronal tumors with B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase (BRAF) mutations, addressing their diagnostic challenges.Methods: This retrospective study, conducted in Saudi Arabia, analyzed 47 cases from the Children’s Brain Tumor Network online database using scanned images, next-generation sequencing data, and methylation profiles processed using the Heidelberg methylation brain tumor classifiers v12.5 and v12.8. The data was last access on 10 November 2023.Results: The highest prevalence of BRAF mutations was observed in pilocytic astrocytoma and ganglioglioma. The DMP was consistent with PD in 23 cases, but discrepancies emerged in others, including diagnostic changes in diffuse leptomeningeal glioneuronal tumor and polymorphous low-grade neuroepithelial tumor of the young. A key inconsistency appeared between a pilocytic astrocytoma MC and a glioneuronal tumor PD. Two high-grade astrocytomas were misclassified as pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas. Additionally, low variant allelic frequency in gangliogliomas likely contributed to misclassifications as control in 5 cases.Conclusion: This study emphasized the importance of integrating DMP with PD in diagnosing pediatric glial and glioneuronal tumors with BRAF mutations. Although DMP offers significant diagnostic insights, its limitations, particularly in cases with low tumor content, necessitate cautious interpretation, as well as its use as a complementary diagnostic tool, rather than a definitive method.