NRG Oncology/RTOG 9802 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00003375) is a practice-changing study for patients with WHO low-grade glioma (LGG, grade II), as it was the first to demonstrate a survival benefit of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy over radiotherapy. This post hoc study sought to determine the prognostic and predictive impact of the WHO-defined molecular subgroups and corresponding molecular alterations within NRG Oncology/RTOG 9802.

mutations were determined by immunohistochemistry and/or deep sequencing. A custom Ion AmpliSeq panel was used for mutation analysis. 1p/19q codeletion and promoter methylation were determined by copy-number arrays and/or Illumina 450K array, respectively. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazard model and tested using the log-rank test. Multivariable analyses (MVAs) were performed incorporating treatment and common prognostic factors as covariates.

Of the eligible patients successfully profiled for the WHO-defined molecular groups (n = 106/251), 26 (24%) were wild type, 43 (41%) were mutant/non-codeleted, and 37(35%) were mutant/codeleted. MVAs demonstrated that WHO subgroup was a significant predictor of PFS after adjustment for clinical variables and treatment. Notably, treatment with postradiation chemotherapy (PCV; procarbazine, lomustine (CCNU), and vincristine) was associated with longer PFS (HR, 0.32; = .003; HR, 0.13; < .001) and OS (HR, 0.38; = .013; HR, 0.21; = .029) in the mutant/non-codeleted and mutant/codeleted subgroups, respectively. In contrast, no significant difference in either PFS or OS was observed with the addition of PCV in the wild-type subgroup.

This study is the first to report the predictive value of the WHO-defined diagnostic classification in a set of uniformly treated patients with LGG in a clinical trial. Importantly, this post hoc analysis supports the notion that patients with -mutant high-risk LGG regardless of codeletion status receive benefit from the addition of PCV.