Increased GDF11 expression associated with increased survival of Grade 3 Gliomas

BackgroundInfusing young mouse blood into old mice makes the old mice biologically younger. When an old mouse and a young mouse share a circulatory system, the old mouses muscle function is improved, and the production of olfactory neurons is increased. GDF11 seems to be a crucial element of the young blood in both instances. MethodsBecause of GDF11s potential neuroprotective actions, we used The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to assess the effect of GDF11 expression in malignant gliomas. We analyzed the GDC TCGA lower grade glioma data set. To access TCGA data we used the Xena platform and cBioportal. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS v26. Resultsincreased GDF11 expression in IDH1 mutant subjects was significant. There was significantly increased survival (p = 0.00065, log rank test) with high GDF11 expression in grade 3 gliomas. The survival effect was less prominent in grade 2 gliomas. GDF11 gene expression was highest in anaplastic oligodendrogliomas and mixed gliomas with 1p 19q co-deletions and few or no TP53 or ATRX mutations. GDF11 gene expression was lowest in anaplastic astrocytomas with no 1p 19q co-deletions and many TP53 and ATRX mutations. ConclusionGDF11 or an analogue might be therapeutic in grade 3 glioma. GDF11 does not cross the blood brain barrier but affects the brain by acting on brain endothelial cells. GDF11 might be delivered to a brain tumor intranasally.