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Correlation analysis of tumor purity with clinicopathological, molecular, and imaging features in high-grade gliomas

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Abstract

High-grade gliomas (HGG) have high malignancy, high heterogeneity, and a poor prognosis. Tumor purity is an intrinsic feature of the HGG microenvironment and an independent prognostic factor. The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation of tumor purity with clinicopathological, molecular, and imaging features. We performed a retrospective analysis of 112 patients diagnosed with HGG (grades III and IV) in our center. Eleven regions of interest (ROI) were randomly selected on whole-slide images (WSI, 40 × magnification) based on HGG tissue paraffin sections and hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) staining. Of these 11 ROIs, five ROIs were visually estimated by pathologists and six ROIs were automatically analyzed using ImageJ software. Last, the average tumor purity (%) of the 11 ROIs was calculated. Correlation analysis of tumor purity with clinicopathological, molecular, and imaging features was conducted. Of the 112 patients included in the study, the mean tumor purity of HGG was 70.96%. There were differences in tumor purity between WHO grades III and IV; the tumor purity of grade IV patients (67.59%) was lower than that of grade III patients (76.00%) (p < 0.001). There were also differences in tumor purity between IDH1 mutant and wild type, and the tumor purity of IDH1 mutant patients was higher than that of IDH1 wild-type patients (p = 0.006). The average range of peritumoral edema was about 19.18 mm, and the diameter of edema, ADCmean, and ADCmin were negatively correlated with tumor purity(r =  − 0.236, r =  − 0.306, and r =  − 0.242; p < 0.05). The grade of HGG, IDH1 mutant/wild type, peritumoral edema, and ADC value were correlated with tumor purity. HGG grade, IDH1 mutant/wild type, peritumoral edema, and ADC value can predict tumor purity and indirectly reflect patient prognosis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the staff and participants for their contribution to this study. The authors would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 82071872), the Science and Technology Program Funding Project of Gansu Province (grant number 21YF5FA123), and the Science and Technology Program of Gansu Province (grant number 21JR7RA427).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Qing Zhou, Bin Zhang, Caiqiang Xue, Xiaoai Ke & Junlin Zhou

  2. Second Clinical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Qing Zhou, Peng Zhang, Bin Zhang, Caiqiang Xue & Junlin Zhou

  3. Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China

    Qing Zhou, Bin Zhang, Caiqiang Xue, Xiaoai Ke & Junlin Zhou

  4. Gansu International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Medical Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Lanzhou, China

    Qing Zhou, Bin Zhang, Caiqiang Xue, Xiaoai Ke & Junlin Zhou

  5. Department of Pathology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Peng Zhang

  6. Department of Surgery, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Jiangwei Man

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  1. Qing Zhou
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Contributions

Conception and design: Qing Zhou, Peng Zhang, Jiangwei Man, and Junlin Zhou. Acquisition of data: Qing Zhou, Peng Zhang, Jiangwei Man, Bin Zhang, Cai-qiang Xue, and Xiaoai Ke. Analysis and interpretation of data: All authors. Drafting the article: Qing Zhou. Reviewed submitted version of manuscript: Junlin Zhou. Statistical analysis: Qing Zhou, Cai-qiang Xue, and Xiaoai Ke. Administrative/technical/material support: Qing Zhou, Peng Zhang, Jiangwei Man, and Junlin Zhou. Study supervision: Junlin Zhou.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Junlin Zhou.

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Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, and informed consent was waived.

Human and animal ethics

This retrospective study was approved by our hospital’s human research ethics committee and followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki (Ethics Number: 2020A-070).

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All authors have read and approved submission of the revised manuscript. The material in the abstract has not been published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere in whole or in part in any language.

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All of the authors gave consent for the publication of this manuscript.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Qing Zhou, Peng Zhang, and Jiangwei Man contributed equally to this work as co-first authors.

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Zhou, Q., Zhang, P., Man, J. et al. Correlation analysis of tumor purity with clinicopathological, molecular, and imaging features in high-grade gliomas. Neurosurg Rev 45, 3699–3708 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-022-01871-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-022-01871-8

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