CLINICAL STUDY A new prognostic scoring scale for patients with primary WHO grade III gliomas based on molecular predictors

This study was designed to select molecular markers associated with prognosis, and to propose a prognostic scoring scale for patients with primary WHO grade III gliomas based on these molecular predictors. A series of 83 grade III glioma patients surgically treated and pathologically confirmed in Beijing Tiantan Hospital between May 2009 and December 2010 were retrospectively reviewed in the study. Log-rank analysis was used to identify molecular markers associated with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), which were further assessed using Cox regression analysis. Based on the prognostic molecular markers, a scoring scale was proposed and Kaplan–Meier plots were compared between different scoring levels by Log-rank method. Age \50, 1p/19q co-deletion, IDH1/2 mutation, negative MGMT and EGFR expression were correlated with longer PFS and OS. Cox regression confirmed age \50 and 1p/19q co-deletion as independent prognostic markers. This scoring scale mainly based on prognostic molecular markers stratified patients into four levels with different prognoses. Longer PFS and OS were correlated with higher scores (P \ 0.05). This scoring scale based on prognostic molecular markers identified four levels with significantly different prognoses, and could be used to predict the prognosis of patients with primary WHO grade III gliomas.