Karoline Mayer

Ms. Karoline Mayer

Technical University Munich
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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13 October 2020 in Cancers
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
FLFriederike Liesche-Starnecker
Friederike Liesche-Starnecker
KMKaroline Mayer
Karoline Mayer
FKFlorian Kofler
Florian Kofler
SBSandra Baur
Sandra Baur
FSFriederike Schmidt-Graf
Friederike Schmidt-Graf
JSJürgen Schlegel
Jürgen Schlegel
Tumor heterogeneity is considered to be a hallmark of glioblastoma (GBM). Only more recently, it has become apparent that GBM is not only heterogeneous between patients (intertumoral heterogeneity) but more importantly, also within individual patients (intratumoral heterogeneity). In this study, we focused on assessing intratumoral heterogeneity. For this purpose, the heterogeneity of 38 treatment-naïve GBM was characterized by immunohistochemistry. Perceptible areas were rated for ALDH1A3, EGFR, GFAP, Iba1, Olig2, p53, and Mib1. By clustering methods, two distinct groups similar to subtypes described in literature were detected. The classical subtype featured a strong EGFR and Olig2 positivity, whereas the mesenchymal subtype displayed a strong ALDH1A3 expression and a high fraction of Iba1-positive microglia. 18 tumors exhibited both subtypes and were classified as “subtype-heterogeneous”, whereas the areas of the other tumors were all assigned to the same cluster and named “subtype-dominant”. Results of epigenomic analyses corroborated these findings. Strikingly, the subtype-heterogeneous tumors showed a clearly shorter overall survival compared to subtype-dominant tumors. Furthermore, 21 corresponding pairs of primary and recurrent GBM were compared, showing a dominance of the mesenchymal subtype in the recurrent tumors. Our study confirms the prognostic impact of intratumoral heterogeneity in GBM, and more importantly, makes this hallmark assessable by routine diagnostics.