Congenital brain tumors are rare, accounting for 0.5% to 4% of all pediatric brain tumors. A 10-year retrospective study based on autopsy and neurosurgical clinical reports with a diagnosis of congenital/fetal/neonatal brain tumor identified 6 cases. Four cases were diagnosed antenatally by neuroradiology. Clinical outcomes in 5 cases resulted in death; 1 patient with choroid plexus papilloma underwent successful resection of the tumor and is still alive. Tumor pathologies consisted of 2 teratomas, 2 choroid plexus papillomas, 1 gemistocytic astrocytoma, and 1 glioblastoma multiforme. A literature review of all fetal cases specific to the pathologies presented in this series was also performed. Relative to the literature, this series contains a rare case of congenital gemistocytic astrocytoma. This series further sheds light on the diagnostic, histological, prognostic, and therapeutic differences between congenital brain tumors and tumors of the same pathology in older pediatric and adult populations.

Salmonella meningitis is a rare and serious infection of the central nervous system following acute Salmonella enterica sepsis. For this pathogen, no appropriate model has been reported in which to examine infection kinetics and natural dissemination to the brain. Five mouse lines including C57BL/6, Balb/c, 129S6-Slc11a1tm1 ^Mcg , 129S1/SvImJ, B6.129-Inpp5dtm1 ^Rkh were used in the murine typhoid model to examine the dissemination of systemic Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium following oral infection. We report data on spontaneous meningitis and brain infection following oral infection of mice with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. This model may provide a system in which dissemination of bacteria through the central nervous system and the influence of host and bacterial genetics can be queried.

Time-resolved fluorescence (TRF) and diffuse reflectance (DR) spectroscopy are two optical biopsy modalities that have been studied in tumor diagnosis. Combination of TRF and DR spectroscopy allows us to obtain more features such as fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and optical properties; thus, potentially improving the tissue diagnostic accuracy. In this paper, an integrated TRF-DR spectroscopy instrument was developed to acquire TRF spectra as well as spatially resolved diffuse reflectance spectra in sequence for intraoperative detection of brain tumor margin. The performance of TRF-DR spectroscopy instrumentation was calibrated and evaluated using endogenous biomolecules, tissue phantoms, and ex vivo brain tumor specimens. The results demonstrated that the TRF-DR system is capable to retrieve the fluorescence and optical properties accurately.

Molecular biomarkers, such as IDH1/IDH2 mutations and 1p19q co-deletion, are included in the histopathological and clinical criteria currently used to diagnose and classify gliomas. IDH1/IDH2 mutation is a common feature of gliomas and is associated with a glioma-CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP). Aberrant genomic methylation patterns can also be used to extrapolate information about copy number variation in a tumor. This project’s goal was to assess the feasibility of DNA methylation array for the simultaneous detection of glioma biomarkers as a more effective testing strategy compared to existing single analyte tests. Methods: Whole-genome methylation array (WGMA) testing was performed using 48 glioma DNA samples to detect methylation aberrations and chromosomal gains and losses. The analyzed samples include 39 tumors in the discovery cohort and 9 tumors in the replication cohort. Methylation profiles for each sample were correlated with IDH1 p.R132G mutation, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and previous 1p19q clinical testing to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the WGMA assay for the detection of these variants. Results: We developed a DNA methylation signature to specifically distinguish a IDH1/IDH2 mutant tumor from normal samples. This signature is composed of 11 CpG sites that were significantly hypermethylated in the IDH1/IDH2 mutant group. Copy number analysis using WGMA data was able to identify five of five positive samples for 1p19q co-deletion and was concordant for all negative samples. Conclusions: The DNA methylation signature presented here has the potential to refine the utility of WGMA to predict IDH1/IDH2 mutation status of gliomas, thus improving diagnostic yield and efficiency of laboratory testing compared to single analyte IDH1/IDH2 or 1p19q tests.