Background
Research into the potential utility of plasma-derived circulating cell-free nucleic acids as non-invasive adjuncts to radiological imaging have been occasioned by the invasive nature of brain tumour biopsy. The
Conclusion
We identified significant differential expression of genes involved in cancer inflammation and immunity crosstalk among patients with different glioma grades, and there was positive correlation between their transcriptomic profile in plasma and tumour samples, and with TCGA glioma-derived RNA.
Methods
Blood samples were collected from twenty glioma patients prior to tumour resection. Plasma ccfmRNAs and glioma-derived RNA were extracted and profiled.
Results
BCL2L1, GZMB, HLA-A, IRF1, MYD88, TLR2, and TP53 genes were significantly over-expressed in glioma patients (p < 0.001, versus control). GZMB and HLA-A genes were significantly over-expressed in high-grade glioma patients (p < 0.001, versus low-grade glioma patients). Moreover, the fold change of the BCL2L1 gene was observed to be higher in patients with high-grade glioma (p = 0.022, versus low-grade glioma patients). There was positive correlation between the magnitude of fold change of differentially expressed genes in plasma- and glioma-derived RNA (Spearman r = 0.6344, n = 14, p = 0.017), and with the mean FPKM in TCGA glioma-derived RNA samples (Spearman r = 0.4614, n = 19, p < 0.05). There was positive correlation between glioma radiographic tumour burden and the magnitude of fold change of the CSF3 gene (r = 0.9813, n = 20, p < 0.001).