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Review
. 2023 Dec 22;13(1):83.
doi: 10.3390/jcm13010083.

Primary Intracranial Gliosarcoma: Is It Really a Variant of Glioblastoma? An Update of the Clinical, Radiological, and Biomolecular Characteristics

Domenico La Torre  1 , Attilio Della Torre  1 , Erica Lo Turco  1 , Prospero Longo  1 , Dorotea Pugliese  2 , Paola Lacroce  1 , Giuseppe Raudino  2 , Alberto Romano  2 , Angelo Lavano  1 , Francesco Tomasello  2
Affiliations
Review

Primary Intracranial Gliosarcoma: Is It Really a Variant of Glioblastoma? An Update of the Clinical, Radiological, and Biomolecular Characteristics

Domenico La Torre et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Gliosarcomas (GS) are sporadic malignant tumors classified as a Glioblastoma (GBM) variant with IDH-wild type phenotype. It appears as a well-circumscribed lesion with a biphasic, glial, and metaplastic mesenchymal component. The current knowledge about GS comes from the limited literature. Furthermore, recent studies describe peculiar characteristics of GS, such as hypothesizing that it could be a clinical-pathological entity different from GBM. Here, we review radiological, biomolecular, and clinical data to describe the peculiar characteristics of PGS, treatment options, and outcomes in light of the most recent literature. A comprehensive literature review of PubMed and Web of Science databases was conducted for articles written in English focused on gliosarcoma until 2023. We include relevant data from a few case series and only a single meta-analysis. Recent evidence describes peculiar characteristics of PGS, suggesting that it might be a specific clinical-pathological entity different from GBM. This review facilitates our understanding of this rare malignant brain tumor. However, in the future we recommend multi-center studies and large-scale metanalyses to clarify the biomolecular pathways of PGS to develop new specific therapeutic protocols, different from conventional GBM therapy in light of the new therapeutic opportunities.

Keywords: IDH; MGMT; glioblastoma; hTERT; overall survival; primary gliosarcoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of included studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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