Impact of MGMT promoter methylation on treatment benefit in patients aged 80 years or older with non-resected glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is associated with especially poor outcome in the elderly. It is unclear whether patients aged 80 years or older benefit from tumor-specific therapy as opposed to receiving best supportive care (BSC) only. A retrospective study at Ludwig-Maximilians University (Munich, Germany) found that among patients aged 80 years and older with IDH-wildtype glioblastoma progression-free and overall survival were longer with tumor-specific therapy compared with BSC. This effect was driven by patients with MGMT promoter methylation. In multivariate analyses, better clinical status (p<0.01) and MGMT promoter methylation (p=0.01) were associated with prolonged survival.