1. The value of genomic profiling in CNS tumors

Abstract

In the current era of personalized medicine, genomic profiling of central nervous system (CNS) tumors has gained much attention in the recent years in an effort to improve outcomes and provide targeted therapies. Despite many advances in cancer treatment, CNS tumors remain difficult to treat based on their suboptimal response to conventional therapies. In addition, they often lead to neurocognitive deficits necessitating a novel approach to both management and treatment of these tumors. Moreover, advances of genomic technologies, the current WHO (2016) reclassification of CNS tumors based on combination of molecular and histological data, and the knowledge that chromosomal aberrations drive tumorigenesis have all led to an increase in the value of genomic profiling in these tumors (including DNA copy number aberrations, structural chromosomal rearrangements and single nucleotide variants). In this presentation, we will discuss several cases of pediatric and adult CNS tumors (high grade gliomas, meningiomas, and embryonal tumors) in which genomic profiling provided improved classification, prognosis, as well as treatment options.