Tumor DNA and MRI/CT Scan Findings in Patients With Grade III or Grade IV Malignant Glioma

Identification of Hypermethylated Serum Tumor DNA in High Grade Glioma Patients and Correlation With Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings

RATIONALE: Studying levels of tumor DNA in the samples of blood from patients with cancer may help doctors find out whether the cancer has grown and how much.

PURPOSE: This laboratory study is comparing levels of tumor DNA with MRI and CT scan findings to measure cancer growth in patients with grade III or grade IV malignant glioma.

OBJECTIVES:

• Correlate changes in the level of serum tumor-specific DNA over time with changes in brain tumor size as measured by serial MRI or CT scans in patients with grade III-IV malignant gliomas.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Blood samples are collected from patients at baseline and every 2 months thereafter. Tumor and nontumor plasma is extracted. Plasma samples are analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to assess the p16_ink4a, p73, and O ^6-MGMT gene promoter methylation profile. Quantitative realtime PCR is performed on samples with tumor-specific DNA to determine the plasma concentrations of each methylated tumor-specific gene and the total plasma tumor-specific DNA concentration. Patients also undergo MRI or CT scans every 2 months.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 60 patients will be accrued for this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed malignant brain tumor

  • One of the following grade III or IV supratentorial gliomas:

    • Anaplastic astrocytoma
    • Anaplastic oligodendroglioma
    • Glioblastoma multiforme

• Newly diagnosed or recurrent disease

• Planning to undergo anticancer therapy on a New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy (NABTT) Consortium clinical trial

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Karnofsky performance status 60-100%

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics