Connectomic profile and clinical phenotype in newly diagnosed glioma patients.
Gliomas are primary brain tumors, originating from the glial cells in the brain. In contrast to the more traditional view of glioma as a localized disease, it is becoming clear that global brain functioning is impacted, even with respect to functional communication between brain regions remote from the tumor itself. However, a thorough investigation of glioma-related functional connectomic profiles is lacking. Therefore, we constructed functional brain networks using functional MR scans of 71 glioma patients and 19 matched healthy controls using the automated anatomical labelling (AAL) atlas and interregional Pearson correlation coefficients. The frequency distributions across connectivity values were calculated to depict overall connectomic profiles and quantitative features of these distributions (full-width half maximum (FWHM), peak position, peak height) were calculated. Next, we investigated the spatial distribution of the connectomic profile. We defined hub locations based on the literature and determined connectivity (1) between hubs, (2) between hubs and non-hubs, and (3) between non-hubs. Results show that patients had broader and flatter connectivity distributions compared to controls. Spatially, glioma patients particularly showed increased connectivity between non-hubs and hubs. Furthermore, connectivity distributions and hub-non-hub connectivity differed within the patient group according to tumor grade, while relating to Karnofsky performance status and progression-free survival. In conclusion, newly diagnosed glioma patients have globally altered functional connectomic profiles, which mainly affect hub connectivity and relate to clinical phenotypes. These findings underscore the promise of using connectomics as a future biomarker in this patient population.
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; VUmc CCA Brain Tumor Center Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jolanda
J
Derks
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; VUmc CCA Brain Tumor Center Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Anne R
AR
Dirkson
VUmc CCA Brain Tumor Center Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Neurosurgery, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Philip C
PC
de Witt Hamer
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Quinten
Q
van Geest
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hanneke E
HE
Hulst
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, 23 Queen Square, London, UK; UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, University College London, Gower street, London, UK.
Frederik
F
Barkhof
Department of Physics and Medical Technology, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Petra J W
PJ
Pouwels
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jeroen J G
JJ
Geurts
VUmc CCA Brain Tumor Center Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Neurology, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jaap C
JC
Reijneveld
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; VUmc CCA Brain Tumor Center Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th St, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Linda
L
Douw
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D010100:Oxygen
Connectome; Functional connectivity; Glioma; Hubs; Network theory; Neuro-oncology