Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary malignant brain tumor. Despite the current standard of care therapy, including maximal surgical resection, chemoradiation, and tumor-treating fields, prognosis remains poor. Therapeutic failure is driven by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, poor drug penetration across the blood–brain barrier, and robust resistance mechanisms. Epigenetic alterations further compound treatment resistance by enhancing DNA repair and promoting survival pathways. Molecular profiling has identified key prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Gene expression analyses have delineated GBM subtypes, each with distinct molecular features and therapeutic vulnerabilities that hinder successful clinical translation. This review integrates the pathophysiological, diagnostic, and therapeutic landscape of GBM to inform of future strategies for improved patient outcomes.
Central nervous system (CNS) tumor with BCL6 corepressor gene BCOR/BCORL1 fusion is an extremely rare tumor entity, with fewer than 40 cases reported. These tumors are distinct from the WHO 2021-defined CNS tumor with BCOR internal tandem duplication. Even rarer are CNS tumors that match to the methylation class of CNS tumors with BCOR/BCORL1 fusion, but lack fusions and instead harbor truncating small nucleotide variants in BCOR. To our knowledge, only two other cases of this scenario have been previously reported. Due to their scarcity and morphological features that mimic oligodendrogliomas and ependymomas, the diagnosis of CNS tumor with BCOR/BCORL1 fusion can be challenging, and misdiagnoses are not uncommon. Histologic findings of Olig2 positivity with focal to absent GFAP warrant further evaluation for this tumor entity. Moreover, no standard of care therapy exists for these tumors, making treatment selection difficult. We present a case of a 37-year-old woman with a midline CNS tumor with BCOR/BCORL1 fusion, harboring a pathogenic BCOR c.626del (p.S209Cfs*7) (Exon 4) variant, who was successfully treated with definitive radiation therapy and adjuvant temozolomide. Notably, EMA showed focal strong dot-like perinuclear immunoreactivity, which has not been previously reported in these tumors. This case adds to the limited but growing body of evidence supporting the use of radiation and temozolomide in treating tumors matching the methylation class of CNS tumors with BCOR/BCORL1 fusion without a detectable fusion.