Project description:We undertook a comprehensive clinical and biological investigation of serial medulloblastoma biopsies obtained at diagnosis and relapse. Combined MYC gene family amplifications and P53 pathway defects commonly emerged at relapse, and all patients in this molecular group died of rapidly progressive disease post-relapse. To study this genetic interaction, we investigated a transgenic model of MYCN-driven medulloblastoma and found spontaneous development of Trp53 inactivating mutations. Abrogation of Trp53 function in this model produced aggressive tumors that mimicked the characteristics of relapsed human tumors with combined P53-MYC dysfunction. Restoration of p53 activity, genetic and therapeutic suppression of MYCN all reduced tumor growth and prolonged survival. Our findings identify P53–MYC interactions which emerge at medulloblastoma relapse as biomarkers of clinically aggressive disease that may be targeted therapeutically. Using this dataset, assignation of medulloblastoma molecular subgroup by Illumina 450k microarray was performed for diagnostic and relapsed medulloblastoma samples to compare subgroup membership at diagnosis and relapse. We investigated the DNA methylation profiles of 18 diagnostic and 22 relapsing samples (including 15 diagnostic / relapse pairs) using the Illumina 450k methylation microarray
Project description:We undertook a comprehensive clinical and biological investigation of serial medulloblastoma biopsies obtained at diagnosis and relapse. Combined MYC gene family amplifications and P53 pathway defects commonly emerged at relapse, and all patients in this molecular group died of rapidly progressive disease post-relapse. To study this genetic interaction, we investigated a transgenic model of MYCN-driven medulloblastoma and found spontaneous development of Trp53 inactivating mutations. Abrogation of Trp53 function in this model produced aggressive tumors that mimicked the characteristics of relapsed human tumors with combined P53-MYC dysfunction. Restoration of p53 activity, genetic and therapeutic suppression of MYCN all reduced tumor growth and prolonged survival. Our findings identify P53–MYC interactions which emerge at medulloblastoma relapse as biomarkers of clinically aggressive disease that may be targeted therapeutically. Using this dataset, assignation of medulloblastoma molecular subgroup by Illumina 450k microarray was performed for diagnostic and relapsed medulloblastoma samples to compare subgroup membership at diagnosis and relapse.
Project description:Medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumour, disseminates by shedding cells into the cerebrospinal fluid, which then re-implant to cover the surface of the brain and spinal cord. Metastases are a very poor prognostic sign at presentation and are usually lethal at recurrence. Mechanisms driving dissemination have been described in the bulk primary tumour, with the underlying assumption that primary tumour and metastases are biologically similar. Here we show that in both mouse and human medulloblastoma, multiple metastases from a single animal are extremely similar, but are genetically highly divergent from the primary tumour. Clonal genetic events in the metastases can be demonstrated in a restricted sub-clone of the primary tumour, suggesting that only rare cells within the primary tumour have the ability to metastasize. Failure to account for the bicompartmental nature of primary and metastatic medulloblastoma represents a major barrier to the development of effective targeted therapies. Affymetrix SNP arrays were performed according to the manufacturer's directions on DNA extracted from cryopreserved human medulloblastoma tissue samples. Copy number analysis of Affymetrix SNP6 arrays was performed for 17 pediatric medulloblastoma samples. Samples comprise a series of 7 patient-matched primary/metastatic cases.
Project description:The childhood brain tumour medulloblastoma includes four subtypes with very different prognoses. Here, we show that paracrine signals driven by mutant Beta-Catenin in WNT-medulloblastoma â an essentially curable form of the disease â induce an aberrant fenestrated vasculature that permits the accumulation of high levels of intra-tumoural chemotherapy and a robust therapeutic response. In contrast, SHH-medulloblastoma â a less curable disease subtype â contains an intact blood brain barrier, rendering this tumour impermeable and resistant to chemotherapy. Remarkably, the medulloblastoma-endothelial cell paracrine axis can be manipulated in vivo, altering chemotherapy permeability and clinical response. Thus, medulloblastoma genotype dictates tumour vessel phenotype, explaining in part the disparate prognoses among medulloblastoma subtypes and suggesting an approach to enhance the chemoresponsiveness of other brain tumours. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression within endothelial cells from normal mouse hindbrain and genetic mouse models of different medulloblastoma subtypes to identify and verify up-regulated and down-regulated genes Endothelial cells were isolated from adult mouse hindbrain and genetic mouse models of Wnt and Shh-medulloblastoma using Cd-144 and Cd-105 antibodies based magnetic sorting. RNA was extracted and used for hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We sought to identify changes in endothelial gene expression patterns based on the surrounding microenvironment, so we purified endothelial cells from normal mouse brain or tumors from genetic mouse models. These include the Shh-medulloblastoma model (Ptch+/-; Ink4c -/-) and Wnt-medulloblastoma model (Blbp-Cre; mutant Ctnnb1+/-; p53-/-; mutant Pik3ca +/-)
Project description:The childhood brain tumour medulloblastoma includes four subtypes with very different prognoses. Here, we show that paracrine signals driven by mutant Beta-Catenin in WNT-medulloblastoma – an essentially curable form of the disease – induce an aberrant fenestrated vasculature that permits the accumulation of high levels of intra-tumoural chemotherapy and a robust therapeutic response. In contrast, SHH-medulloblastoma – a less curable disease subtype – contains an intact blood brain barrier, rendering this tumour impermeable and resistant to chemotherapy. Remarkably, the medulloblastoma-endothelial cell paracrine axis can be manipulated in vivo, altering chemotherapy permeability and clinical response. Thus, medulloblastoma genotype dictates tumour vessel phenotype, explaining in part the disparate prognoses among medulloblastoma subtypes and suggesting an approach to enhance the chemoresponsiveness of other brain tumours. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression within endothelial cells from normal mouse hindbrain and genetic mouse models of different medulloblastoma subtypes to identify and verify up-regulated and down-regulated genes
Project description:Molecular classification of medulloblastoma is critical for the correct treatment of this malignant paediatric brain tumour. The analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns has profoundly improved diagnostic precision and classification of brain tumours. However, the implementation of DNA methylation microarrays in daily clinical practice can be time-consuming, costly and inaccessible for many centres worldwide. We aimed to develop a machine-learning decision support system for rapid and cost-effective prediction of medulloblastoma methylation class directly from quantitative PCR data.
Project description:Metabolically-targeted therapies hold the promise of offering an effective and less toxic treatment for tumours including medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumour of childhood. Current treatment relies on the sensitivity of these tumours to DNA damage that was discovered more than 50 years ago. Finding new tumour-specific susceptibilities to complement sensitivity to DNA damage is key to developing new more effective adjuvant therapies. The specific metabolic program of tumours is an attractive vulnerability, as restriction diet are low cost and easy to implement. Here, we present compelling pre-clinical evidence that glutamine restriction diet can be used as an adjuvant treatment for p73-expressing medulloblastoma.
Project description:Medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumour, disseminates by shedding cells into the cerebrospinal fluid, which then re-implant to cover the surface of the brain and spinal cord. Metastases are a very poor prognostic sign at presentation and are usually lethal at recurrence. Mechanisms driving dissemination have been described in the bulk primary tumour, with the underlying assumption that primary tumour and metastases are biologically similar. Here we show that in both mouse and human medulloblastoma, multiple metastases from a single animal are extremely similar, but are genetically highly divergent from the primary tumour. Clonal genetic events in the metastases can be demonstrated in a restricted sub-clone of the primary tumour, suggesting that only rare cells within the primary tumour have the ability to metastasize. Failure to account for the bicompartmental nature of primary and metastatic medulloblastoma represents a major barrier to the development of effective targeted therapies. DNA methylation analysis of 15 pediatric medulloblastoma samples consisting of 6 primary-metastatic pairs and 4 normal cerebella samples profiled in Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation27 Beadchip v1.2