Prediagnostic biomarkers for early detection of glioma—using case–control studies from cohorts as study approach

BACKGROUND: Understanding the trajectory and development of disease is important and the knowledge can be used to find novel targets for therapy and new diagnostic tools for early diagnosis. METHODS: Large cohorts from different parts of the world are unique assets for research as they have systematically collected plasma and DNA over long-time periods in healthy individuals, sometimes even with repeated samples. Over time, the population in the cohort are diagnosed with many different diseases, including brain tumors. RESULTS: Recent studies have detected genetic variants that are associated with increased risk of glioblastoma and lower grade gliomas specifically. The impact for genetic markers to predict disease in a healthy population has been deemed low, and a relevant question is if the genetic variants for glioma are associated with risk of disease or partly consist of genes associated to survival. Both metabolite and protein spectra are currently being explored for early detection of cancer. CONCLUSIONS: We here present a focused review of studies of genetic variants, metabolomics, and proteomics studied in prediagnostic glioma samples and discuss their potential in early diagnostics.