This prospective population-based study on a group of 132 resected IDH-wildtype (IDH-wt) glioblastoma (GBM) patients assesses the prognostic and predictive value of selected genetic biomarkers and clinical factors for GBM as well as the dependence of these values on the applied therapeutic modalities. The patients were treated in our hospital between June 2006 and June 2015. Clinical data and tumor samples were analyzed to determine the frequencies of TP53, MDM2, EGFR, RB1, BCR, and CCND1 gene aberrations and the duplication/deletion statuses of the 9p21.3, 1p36.3, 19q13.32, and 10p11.1 chromosome regions. Cut-off values distinguishing low (LCN) and high (HCN) copy number status for each marker were defined. Additionally, MGMT promoter methylation and IDH1/2 mutation status were investigated retrospectively. Young age, female gender, Karnofsky scores (KS) above 80, chemoradiotherapy, TP53 HCN, and CCND1 HCN were identified as positive prognostic factors, and smoking was identified as a negative prognostic factor. Cox proportional regression models of the chemoradiotherapy patient group revealed TP53 HCN and CCND1 HCN to be positive prognostic factors for both progression-free survival and overall survival. These results confirmed the influence of key clinical factors (age, KS, adjuvant oncotherapy, and smoking) on survival in GBM IDH-wt patients and demonstrated the prognostic and/or predictive importance of CCND1, MDM2, and 22q12.2 aberrations.

IL-6 signaling is involved in the pathogenesis of a number of serious diseases, including chronic inflammation and cancer. Targeting of IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) by small molecules is therefore an intensively studied strategy in cancer treatment. We describe the design, synthesis, and characteristics of two new bis-pentamethinium salts 5 and 6 (meta and para) bearing indole moieties. Molecular docking studies showed that both compounds have the potential to bind IL-6R (free energy of binding −9.5 and −8.1 kcal/mol). The interaction with IL-6R was confirmed using microscale thermophoresis analyses, which revealed that both compounds had strong affinity for the IL-6R (experimentally determined dissociation constants 26.5 ± 2.5 nM and 304 ± 27.6 nM, respectively). In addition, both compounds were cytotoxic for a broad spectrum of cancer cell lines in micromolar concentrations, most likely due to their accumulation in mitochondria and inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. In summary, the structure motif of bis-pentamethinium salts represents a promising starting point for the design of novel multitargeting compounds with the potential to inhibit IL-6 signaling and simultaneously target mitochondrial metabolism in cancer cells.