Marco Giulioni1, Gianluca Marucci2, Massimo Cossu3, Laura Tassi3, Manuela Bramerio4, Carmen Barba5, Anna Maria Buccoliero6, Gianfranco Vornetti7, Corrado Zenesini8, Alessandro Consales9, Luca De Palma10, Flavio Villani11, Giancarlo Di Gennaro12, Giampaolo Vatti13, Nelia Zamponi14, Gabriella Colicchio15, Carlo Efisio Marras16. 1. UOC Neurochirurgia, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: giulioni.m@tiscali.it. 2. Anatomic Pathology Unit, Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Neuropathology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS, Istituto Neurologico C. Besta, Milan, Italy. 3. Claudio Munari Center for Epilepsy Surgery, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milan, Italy. 4. Service of Pathology, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milan, Italy. 5. Pediatric Neurology Unit, Neuroscience Department, Children's Hospital A. Meyer, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. 6. Pathology Unit, Children's Hospital A. Meyer, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. 7. UOC Neurochirurgia, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. 8. Unità di Epidemiologia e Biostatistica, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. 9. Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy. 10. Division of Neurology, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy. 11. Clinical Epileptology and Experimental Neurophysiology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS, Istituto Neurologico C. Besta, Milan, Italy. 12. Epilepsy Surgery Unit, IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy. 13. Department of Neurology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy. 14. Child Neurology and Psychiatry Unit, Children's Hospital G. Salesi, University of Ancona, Ancona, Italy. 15. Institute of Neurosurgery, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. 16. Neurosurgery Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To analyze relationships between CD34 expression and several demographic, clinical, and pathologic features in patients with histopathologic evidence of low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors who underwent epilepsy surgery. METHODS: A retrospective study enrolling 187 patients with low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors who underwent surgery between January 2009 and June 2015 at 8 Italian epilepsy surgery centers was conducted. All cases were histologically diagnosed according to the World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify variables associated with CD34 expression. RESULTS: Of 187 patients, 95 (50.8%) were CD34 positive. Tumor type and duration of epilepsy were independently associated with CD34 expression on multivariate analysis. Ganglioglioma and pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma were the histologic types with the strongest association with CD34 positivity with an odds ratio of 9.2 and 10.4, respectively, compared with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors. Patients with a duration of epilepsy >10 years had a significantly greater likelihood to show CD34 expression, with an odds ratio of 2.8 compared with patients with a duration of epilepsy <2 years. On univariate analysis, CD34 expression appeared to be significantly related to older age at surgery, higher antiepileptic drug intake, and female sex. CONCLUSIONS: CD34 expression holds promise as a useful biomolecular marker for patients with low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors with evidence of a link with clinicopathologic features. This study confirmed the association between CD34 expression and tumor type and demonstrated a significantly higher probability of CD34 expression in patients with longer duration of epilepsy, independent of histology.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze relationships between CD34 expression and several demographic, clinical, and pathologic features in patients with histopathologic evidence of low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors who underwent epilepsy surgery. METHODS: A retrospective study enrolling 187 patients with low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors who underwent surgery between January 2009 and June 2015 at 8 Italian epilepsy surgery centers was conducted. All cases were histologically diagnosed according to the World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify variables associated with CD34 expression. RESULTS: Of 187 patients, 95 (50.8%) were CD34 positive. Tumor type and duration of epilepsy were independently associated with CD34 expression on multivariate analysis. Ganglioglioma and pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma were the histologic types with the strongest association with CD34 positivity with an odds ratio of 9.2 and 10.4, respectively, compared with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors. Patients with a duration of epilepsy >10 years had a significantly greater likelihood to show CD34 expression, with an odds ratio of 2.8 compared with patients with a duration of epilepsy <2 years. On univariate analysis, CD34 expression appeared to be significantly related to older age at surgery, higher antiepileptic drug intake, and female sex. CONCLUSIONS:CD34 expression holds promise as a useful biomolecular marker for patients with low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors with evidence of a link with clinicopathologic features. This study confirmed the association between CD34 expression and tumor type and demonstrated a significantly higher probability of CD34 expression in patients with longer duration of epilepsy, independent of histology.