Dr. Brown Co-Authors Article in Neuro-Oncology on HGAP Study of Large Multi-Institutional Cohort

CellNetix neuropathologist, Dr. Dan Brown, co-authored an article titled, “High-grade astrocytoma with piloid features: A clinical and genomic analysis of prognostic factors using a large cohort,” published in the October 2026 issue of Neuro-Oncology.

High-grade astrocytoma with piloid features (HGAP) is a recently characterized tumor type, codified into the World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System, and is not well understood. Prognostic factors of clinical outcomes are not well established. In this study, methylation profiling was performed on tumor samples, and the multi-institutional cohort comprised 421 patients. The median overall survival of the cohort was found to be 88 months. This large cohort establishes relative frequencies of several important markers.

Additionally, older age and the presence of an ATRX alteration were found to be poor prognostic molecular factors. Histologic high-grade features were not significantly associated with clinical outcomes. Additional variables that were not associated with outcome included MGMT promoter methylation and CDKN2A/B homozygous loss. Cystic features on MRI were found to be favorably prognostic. This study sheds light on the genomic features of HGAP and may aid in optimizing treatment regimens for patients with this tumor type.

Visit the link to read the full article.