Abstract
The overall incidence of brain tumors for benign and malignant tumors combined is 18.71 per 100,000 person-years; 11.52 per 100,000 person-years for benign tumors and 7.19 per 100,000 person-years for malignant tumors. Incidence, response to treatment, and survival after diagnosis vary greatly by age at diagnosis, histologic type of tumor, and degree of neurologic compromise. The only established environmental risk factor for brain tumors is ionizing radiation exposure. Exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields via cell phone use has gained a lot of attention as a potential risk factor for brain tumor development. However, studies have been inconsistent and inconclusive due to systematic differences in study designs and difficulty of accurately measuring cell phone use. Recently studies of genetic risk factors for brain tumors have expanded to genome-wide association studies. In addition, genome-wide studies of somatic genetic changes in tumors show correlation with clinical outcomes.
References
Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance, •• Of major importance
• CBTRUS. Statistical Report: Primary Brain Tumors in the United States, 2004–2006. Chicago: Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States; 2010. This CBTRUS report shows the most recent population-based incidence, prevalence, and survival statistics for all brain tumors in the United States.
Wrensch M, Minn Y, Chew T, et al. Epidemiology of primary brain tumors: current concepts and review of the literature. Neuro Oncol. 2002;4:278–99.
Ohgaki H, Kleihues P. Epidemiology and etiology of gliomas. Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 2005;109(1):93–108.
Bondy ML, Scheurer ME, Malmer B, et al. Brain tumor epidemiology: consensus from the Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium. Cancer. 2008;113(7 Suppl):1953–68.
• Shete S, Hosking FJ, Robertson LB, et al. Genome-wide association study identifies five susceptibility loci for glioma. Nat Genet. 2009;41(8):899–904. This study was the first to publish results from GWAS and glioma risk. Even though this study used different study populations and different study criteria, they found multiple statistically significant “GWAS hits” in common.
• Wrensch M, Jenkins RB, Chang JS, et al. Variants in the CDKN2B and RTEL1 regions are associated with high-grade glioma susceptibility. Nat Genet. 2009;41(8):905–8. This study was the first to publish results from GWAS and glioma risk. Even though this study used different study populations and different study criteria, they found multiple statistically significant “GWAS hits” in common.
•• The INTERPHONE Study Group: Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile telephone use: results of the INTERPHONE international case-control study. Int J Epidemiol. 2010;39(3):675–94. This is the most recent report on the association between cell phone use and brain tumor risk coming from the largest study performed to date, the INTERPHONE study. This study concludes that there is no association between cell phone use and brain tumor risk, except for risk of glioma associated with the top decile of cumulative cell phone use.
Law ME, Templeton KL, Kitange G, et al. Molecular cytogenetic analysis of chromosomes 1 and 19 in glioma cell lines. Cancer Genet Cytogenet. 2005;160(1):1–14.
Thomas C, Ely G, James CD, et al. Glioblastoma-related gene mutations and over-expression of functional epidermal growth factor receptors in SKMG-3 glioma cells. Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 2001;101(6):605–15.
Smith JS, Tachibana I, Lee HK, et al. Mapping of the chromosome 19 q-arm glioma tumor suppressor gene using fluorescence in situ hybridization and novel microsatellite markers. Genes Chromosom Cancer. 2000;29(1):16–25.
Wiencke JK, Aldape K, McMillan A, et al. Molecular features of adult glioma associated with patient race/ethnicity, age, and a polymorphism in O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev. 2005;14(7):1774–83.
Kleihues P, Ohgaki H. Genetics of glioma progression and the definition of primary and secondary glioblastoma. Brain Pathol. 1997;7:1131–6.
Kleihues P, Ohgaki H. Primary and secondary glioblastomas: from concept to clinical diagnosis. Neuro Oncol. 1999;1(1):44–51.
Kleihues P, Ohgaki H. Phenotype vs genotype in the evolution of astrocytic brain tumors. Toxicol Pathol. 2000;28(1):164–70.
Berens ME, Giese A. “...those left behind.” Biology and oncology of invasive glioma cells. Neoplasia. 1999;1(3):208–19.
Berens ME, Rutka JT, Rosenblum ML. Brain tumor epidemiology, growth, and invasion. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 1990;1(1):1–18.
Ohgaki H, Dessen P, Jourde B, et al. Genetic pathways to glioblastoma: a population-based study. Cancer Res. 2004;64(19):6892–9.
The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Comprehensive genomic characterization defines human glioblastoma genes and core pathways. Nature. 2008;455(7216):1061–8.
Bredel M, Scholtens DM, Harsh GR, et al. A network model of a cooperative genetic landscape in brain tumors. JAMA. 2009;302(3):261–75.
Cowin PA, Anglesio M, Etemadmoghadam D, Bowtell DD. Profiling the cancer genome. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2010;11:133–59.
Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Hennessy BT, Mills GB. Future of personalized medicine in oncology: a systems biology approach. J Clin Oncol. 2010;28(16):2777–83.
• Verhaak RG, Hoadley KA, Purdom E, et al. Integrated genomic analysis identifies clinically relevant subtypes of glioblastoma characterized by abnormalities in PDGFRA, IDH1, EGFR, and NF1. Cancer Cell. 2010;17(1):98–110. This study used the GB Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data set to validate the previously described GB subtypes, which are each hallmarked by specific genomic aberrations and/or dysregulated gene expression.
Phillips HS, Kharbanda S, Chen R, et al. Molecular subclasses of high-grade glioma predict prognosis, delineate a pattern of disease progression, and resemble stages in neurogenesis. Cancer Cell. 2006;9(3):157–73.
Freije WA, Castro-Vargas FE, Fang Z, et al. Gene expression profiling of gliomas strongly predicts survival. Cancer Res. 2004;64(18):6503–10.
Nutt CL, Mani DR, Betensky RA, et al. Gene expression-based classification of malignant gliomas correlates better with survival than histological classification. Cancer Res. 2003;63(7):1602–7.
Li A, Walling J, Ahn S, et al. Unsupervised analysis of transcriptomic profiles reveals six glioma subtypes. Cancer Res. 2009;69(5):2091–9.
Rich JN, Hans C, Jones B, et al. Gene expression profiling and genetic markers in glioblastoma survival. Cancer Res. 2005;65(10):4051–8.
Lee Y, Liu J, Patel S, et al. Genomic landscape of meningiomas. Brain Pathol. 2010;20(4):751–62.
Auvinen A, Hietanen M, Luukkonen R, Koskela RS. Brain tumors and salivary gland cancers among cellular telephone users. Epidemiology. 2002;13(3):356–9.
Christensen HC, Schuz J, Kosteljanetz M, et al. Cellular telephones and risk for brain tumors: a population-based, incident case-control study. Neurology. 2005;64(7):1189–95.
Hardell L, Carlberg M, Hansson Mild K. Pooled analysis of two case-control studies on use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk for malignant brain tumours diagnosed in 1997–2003. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2006;79(8):630–9.
Hepworth SJ, Schoemaker MJ, Muir KR, et al. Mobile phone use and risk of glioma in adults: case-control study. BMJ. 2006;332(7546):883–7.
Hours M, Bernard M, Montestrucq L, et al. Cell Phones and Risk of brain and acoustic nerve tumours: the French INTERPHONE case-control study. Rev Épidémiol Santé Publique. 2007;55(5):321–32.
Inskip PD, Tarone RE, Hatch EE, et al. Cellular-telephone use and brain tumors. N Engl J Med. 2001;344(2):79–86.
Klaeboe L, Blaasaas KG, Tynes T. Use of mobile phones in Norway and risk of intracranial tumours. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2007;16(2):158–64.
Lahkola A, Auvinen A, Raitanen J, et al. Mobile phone use and risk of glioma in 5 North European countries. Int J Cancer. 2007;120(8):1769–75.
Lonn S, Ahlbom A, Hall P, Feychting M. Long-term mobile phone use and brain tumor risk. Am J Epidemiol. 2005;161(6):526–35.
Muscat JE, Malkin MG, Thompson S, et al. Handheld cellular telephone use and risk of brain cancer. JAMA. 2000;284(23):3001–7.
Schuz J, Bohler E, Berg G, et al. Cellular phones, cordless phones, and the risks of glioma and meningioma (Interphone Study Group, Germany). Am J Epidemiol. 2006;163(6):512–20.
Takebayashi T, Varsier N, Kikuchi Y, et al. Mobile phone use, exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic field, and brain tumour: a case-control study. Br J Cancer. 2008;98(3):652–9.
Hardell L, Carlberg M, Hansson Mild K. Pooled analysis of two case-control studies on the use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk of benign brain tumours diagnosed during 1997–2003. Int J Oncol. 2006;28(2):509–18.
Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile telephone use: results of the INTERPHONE international case-control study. Int J Epidemiol. 39(3):675–94.
Lahkola A, Salminen T, Raitanen J, et al. Meningioma and mobile phone use–a collaborative case-control study in five North European countries. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37(6):1304–13.
Christensen HC, Schuz J, Kosteljanetz M, et al. Cellular telephone use and risk of acoustic neuroma. Am J Epidemiol. 2004;159(3):277–83.
Lonn S, Ahlbom A, Hall P, Feychting M. Mobile phone use and the risk of acoustic neuroma. Epidemiology. 2004;15(6):653–9.
Muscat JE, Malkin MG, Shore RE, et al. Handheld cellular telephones and risk of acoustic neuroma. Neurology. 2002;58(8):1304–6.
Schlehofer B, Schlaefer K, Blettner M, et al. Environmental risk factors for sporadic acoustic neuroma (Interphone Study Group, Germany). Eur J Cancer. 2007;43(11):1741–7.
Schoemaker MJ, Swerdlow AJ, Ahlbom A, et al. Mobile phone use and risk of acoustic neuroma: results of the Interphone case-control study in five North European countries. Br J Cancer. 2005;93(7):842–8.
Takebayashi T, Akiba S, Kikuchi Y, et al. Mobile phone use and acoustic neuroma risk in Japan. Occup Environ Med. 2006;63(12):802–7.
Warren HG, Prevatt AA, Daly KA, Antonelli PJ. Cellular telephone use and risk of intratemporal facial nerve tumor. Laryngoscope. 2003;113(4):663–7.
Disclosure
No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ostrom, Q.T., Barnholtz-Sloan, J.S. Current State of Our Knowledge on Brain Tumor Epidemiology. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 11, 329–335 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-011-0189-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-011-0189-8