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Cancers
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Functional Neuro-Oncology (2nd Edition) 
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Functional Neuro-Oncology (2nd Edition) 

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2024) | Viewed by 5285

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Alireza Mansouri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA
Interests: glioma; brain metastases; brain mapping; pituitary adenoma; endoscopic surgery; radiosurgery; fluorescent-guided surgery; clinical trials; biomarkers; proteomics; cerebrospinal fluid
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is increasing evidence to support the notion that the nervous system plays a pivotal role in the progression of brain neoplasms, both primary and metastatic. Specifically, we know that the progression of glial tumors is driven by neuronal activity, mediated through secreted growth factors along with direct synaptic communication. Similarly, the influence of tumor cells on the modulation of the structural and electrical activity of brain circuits has also been demonstrated. This line of evidence has bearings on our understanding of the underpinnings of tumor progression and response to treatment, as well as brain plasticity and the therapeutic implications. Together, this has culminated in the rise in functional neuro-oncology as a specialist subset of neuro-oncology. The adoption of a functional approach to the management of brain tumors has improved our ability to achieve maximally safe tumor resection, elucidated several functional brain networks affected by tumors, and offered insight into the mechanism of brain tumor progression. However, this knowledge has also given rise to additional questions, concerning the role of the nervous system in the initiation of intrinsic brain tumors, the contribution of this interaction to the development of tumor-related epilepsy and strategies to mitigate it, the effect of various therapies on this interaction, and identifying opportunities for more effective therapeutic intervention. A more comprehensive understanding of this interplay can also be leveraged to improve cognitive rehabilitation. This Special Issue will highlight the latest developments in the field of functional neuro-oncology, with a particular focus on further elaborating on our mechanistic understanding and therapeutic opportunities.

Dr. Alireza Mansouri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • brain mapping
  • functional imaging
  • tractography
  • awake mapping
  • neuro-oncology

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 9471 KiB  
Article
Tumor-Associated Tractography Derived from High-Angular-Resolution Q-Space MRI May Predict Patterns of Cellular Invasion in Glioblastoma
by Owen P. Leary, John P. Zepecki, Mattia Pizzagalli, Steven A. Toms, David D. Liu, Yusuke Suita, Yao Ding, Jihong Wang, Renjie He, Caroline Chung, Clifton D. Fuller, Jerrold L. Boxerman, Nikos Tapinos and Richard J. Gilbert
Cancers 2024, 16(21), 3669; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16213669 - 30 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1287
Abstract
Background: The invasion of glioblastoma cells beyond the visible tumor margin depicted by conventional neuroimaging is believed to mediate recurrence and predict poor survival. Radiomic biomarkers that are associated with the direction and extent of tumor infiltration are, however, non-existent. Methods: Patients from [...] Read more.
Background: The invasion of glioblastoma cells beyond the visible tumor margin depicted by conventional neuroimaging is believed to mediate recurrence and predict poor survival. Radiomic biomarkers that are associated with the direction and extent of tumor infiltration are, however, non-existent. Methods: Patients from a single center with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (n = 7) underwent preoperative Q-space magnetic resonance imaging (QSI; 3T, 64 gradient directions, b = 1000 s/mm2) between 2018 and 2019. Tumors were manually segmented, and patterns of inter-voxel coherence spatially intersecting each segmentation were generated to represent tumor-associated tractography. One patient additionally underwent regional biopsy of diffusion tract- versus non-tract-associated tissue during tumor resection for RNA sequencing. Imaging data from this cohort were compared with a historical cohort of n = 66 glioblastoma patients who underwent similar QSI scans. Associations of tractography-derived metrics with survival were assessed using t-tests, linear regression, and Kaplan–Meier statistics. Patient-derived glioblastoma xenograft (PDX) mice generated with the sub-hippocampal injection of human-derived glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) were scanned under high-field conditions (QSI, 7T, 512 gradient directions), and tumor-associated tractography was compared with the 3D microscopic reconstruction of immunostained GSCs. Results: In the principal enrollment cohort of patients with glioblastoma, all cases displayed tractography patterns with tumor-intersecting tract bundles extending into brain parenchyma, a phenotype which was reproduced in PDX mice as well as in a larger comparison cohort of glioblastoma patients (n = 66), when applying similar methods. Reconstructed spatial patterns of GSCs in PDX mice closely mirrored tumor-associated tractography. On a Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of n = 66 patients, the calculated intra-tumoral mean diffusivity predicted the overall survival (p = 0.037), as did tractography-associated features including mean tract length (p = 0.039) and mean projecting tract length (p = 0.022). The RNA sequencing of human tissue samples (n = 13 tumor samples from a single patient) revealed the overexpression of transcripts which regulate cell motility in tract-associated samples. Conclusions: QSI discriminates tumor-specific patterns of inter-voxel coherence believed to represent white matter pathways which may be susceptible to glioblastoma invasion. These findings may lay the groundwork for future work on therapeutic targeting, patient stratification, and prognosis in glioblastoma. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Neuro-Oncology (2nd Edition) )
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20 pages, 32290 KiB  
Article
Attenuation of the BOLD fMRI Signal and Changes in Functional Connectivity Affecting the Whole Brain in Presence of Brain Metastasis
by Pia Angstwurm, Katharina Hense, Katharina Rosengarth, Quirin Strotzer, Nils Ole Schmidt, Elisabeth Bumes, Peter Hau, Tobias Pukrop and Christina Wendl
Cancers 2024, 16(11), 2010; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16112010 - 25 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1153
Abstract
To date, there are almost no investigations addressing functional connectivity (FC) in patients with brain metastases (BM). In this retrospective study, we investigate the influence of BM on hemodynamic brain signals derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and FC. Motor-fMRI data of [...] Read more.
To date, there are almost no investigations addressing functional connectivity (FC) in patients with brain metastases (BM). In this retrospective study, we investigate the influence of BM on hemodynamic brain signals derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and FC. Motor-fMRI data of 29 patients with BM and 29 matched healthy controls were analyzed to assess percent signal changes (PSC) in the ROIs motor cortex, premotor cortex, and supplementary motor cortex and FC in the sensorimotor, default mode, and salience networks using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) and marsbar and CONN toolboxes. In the PSC analysis, an attenuation of the BOLD signal in the metastases-affected hemisphere compared to the contralateral hemisphere was significant only in the supplementary motor cortex during hand movement. In the FC analysis, we found alterations in patients’ FC compared to controls in all examined networks, also in the hemisphere contralateral to the metastasis. This indicates a qualitative attenuation of the BOLD signal in the affected hemisphere and also that FC is altered by the presence of BM, similarly to what is known for primary brain tumors. This transformation is not only visible in the infiltrated hemisphere, but also in the contralateral one, suggesting an influence of BM beyond local damage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Neuro-Oncology (2nd Edition) )
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Review

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13 pages, 266 KiB  
Review
Clinical Theranostics in Recurrent Gliomas: A Review
by Austin R. Hoggarth, Sankar Muthukumar, Steven M. Thomas, James Crowley, Jackson Kiser and Mark R. Witcher
Cancers 2024, 16(9), 1715; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16091715 - 28 Apr 2024
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2242
Abstract
Gliomas represent the most commonly occurring tumors in the central nervous system and account for approximately 80% of all malignant primary brain tumors. With a high malignancy and recurrence risk, the prognosis of high-grade gliomas is poor, with a mean survival time of [...] Read more.
Gliomas represent the most commonly occurring tumors in the central nervous system and account for approximately 80% of all malignant primary brain tumors. With a high malignancy and recurrence risk, the prognosis of high-grade gliomas is poor, with a mean survival time of 12–18 months. While contrast-enhanced MRI serves as the standard diagnostic imaging modality for gliomas, it faces limitations in the evaluation of recurrent gliomas, failing to distinguish between treatment-related changes and tumor progression, and offers no direct therapeutic options. Recent advances in imaging modalities have attempted to address some of these limitations, including positron emission tomography (PET), which has demonstrated success in delineating tumor margins and guiding the treatment of recurrent gliomas. Additionally, with the advent of theranostics in nuclear medicine, PET tracers, when combined with therapeutic agents, have also evolved beyond a purely diagnostic modality, serving both diagnostic and therapeutic roles. This review will discuss the growing involvement of theranostics in diagnosing and treating recurrent gliomas and address the associated impact on quality of life and functional recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Neuro-Oncology (2nd Edition) )
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