Cell lines and immune classification of glioblastoma define patient's prognosis.

BACKGROUND

Prognostic markers for glioblastoma are lacking. Both intrinsic tumour characteristics and microenvironment could influence cancer prognostic. The aim of our study was to generate a pure glioblastoma cell lines and immune classification in order to decipher the respective role of glioblastoma cell and microenvironment on prognosis.

METHODS

We worked on two large cohorts of patients suffering from glioblastoma (TCGA, n = 481 and Rembrandt, n = 180) for which clinical data, transcriptomic profiles and outcome were recorded. Transcriptomic profiles of 129 pure glioblastoma cell lines were clustered to generate a glioblastoma cell lines classification. Presence of subtypes of glioblastoma cell lines and immune cells was determined using deconvolution.

RESULTS

Glioblastoma cell lines classification defined three new molecular groups called oncogenic, metabolic and neuronal communication enriched. Neuronal communication-enriched tumours were associated with poor prognosis in both cohorts. Immune cell infiltrate was more frequent in mesenchymal classical classification subgroup and metabolic-enriched tumours. A combination of age, glioblastoma cell lines classification and immune classification could be used to determine patient's outcome in both cohorts.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that glioblastoma-bearing patients can be classified based on their age, glioblastoma cell lines classification and immune classification. The combination of these information improves the capacity to address prognosis.