Purpose: Medulloblastoma is the prototype of treatment success in modern pediatric neuro-oncology. Unfortunately, 20% to 30% of tumors recur despite maximal resection and multimodal therapy. Multiple biologic prognostic markers have been investigated to predict recurrences, but controversy remains regarding their clinical utility. Because p53 immunopositivity is an adverse prognostic marker in pediatric medulloblastoma and TP53 mutations are associated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy resistance, we aimed to determine the extent and role of TP53 mutations in pediatric medulloblastoma treatment failure.
Patients and methods: One hundred eight of 111 consecutive patients diagnosed with medulloblastoma in our institution from 1995 to 2007 were included. Median follow-up time was 5.3 years in survivors. All samples were immunostained for p53 and erbB-2. Histologic grade and immunostaining were scored by two blinded reviewers. For 49 patients, frozen material was available for TP53 sequencing. The main outcome measures were overall and progression-free survival.
Results: Sixteen percent of sequenced medulloblastomas harbored a TP53 mutation. As a screening test, p53 immunohistochemistry was 100% sensitive and 83% specific for a TP53 mutation. Strikingly, all mutated tumors recurred early, and 5-year survival for average-risk patients was 0% for TP53-mutated medulloblastoma compared with 74% +/- 8% for wild-type medulloblastoma (P < .0001). Furthermore, 75% of recurrences in average-risk patients were associated with TP53 mutations. On multivariate analysis, TP53 mutation status was the strongest adverse prognostic factor (hazard ratio = 10.4, P = .003).
Conclusion: Lack of long-term survival in TP53-mutated medulloblastomas highlights the role of TP53 mutations in medulloblastoma resistance to conventional therapies and the need for alternative treatments, and prospective validation of these findings is needed.