Spectroscopy of untreated pilocytic astrocytomas: do children and adults share some metabolic features in addition to their morphologic similarities?
The well-known positive correlation between increase of tCho and the grade of gliomas seems to be violated by WHO grade I pilocytic astrocytomas showing a wide range of tCho values with an even marked increase in some cases. No significant differences have been identified in the MR spectroscopy metabolite profiles between paediatric and adult pilocytic astrocytomas.
No high-frequency mutations, common for the three tumour samples of SWE-1, were identified. Ten randomly chosen positions were validated with Sanger sequencing in all foci, which verified the exome data. The high level of intraprostatic heterogeneity was consistent in all individuals. In total, three out of four individuals harboured tumours without an apparent common somatic denominator. Although we cannot exclude the presence of common structural rearrangements, a high-density array was used for the detection of deletions and amplifications in SWE-1, which agreed with the exome data.