Gene Signatures Associated with Mouse Postnatal Hindbrain Neural Stem Cells and Medulloblastoma Cancer Stem Cells Identify Novel Molecular Mediators and Predict Human Medulloblastoma Molecular Classification
Daniela Corno, Mauro Pala, Manuela Cominelli, Barbara Cipelletti, Ketty Leto, Laura Croci, Valeria Barili, Federico Brandalise, Raffaella Melzi, Alessandra Di Gregorio, Lucia Sergi Sergi, Letterio Salvatore Politi
(+7 others)
2012
Cancer Discovery
Medulloblastoma arises from mutations occurring in stem/progenitor cells located in restricted hindbrain territories. Here we report that the mouse postnatal ventricular zone lining the IV ventricle also harbors bona fi de stem cells that, remarkably, share the same molecular profi le with cerebellar white matter-derived neural stem cells (NSC). To identify novel molecular mediators involved in medulloblastomagenesis, we compared these distinct postnatal hindbrain-derived NSC populations, which
more »
... are potentially tumor initiating, with murine compound Ptch/p53 mutant medulloblastoma cancer stem cells (CSC) that faithfully phenocopy the different variants of human medulloblastoma in vivo. Transcriptome analysis of both hindbrain NSCs and medulloblastoma CSCs resulted in the generation of well-defi ned gene signatures, each reminiscent of a specifi c human medulloblastoma molecular subclass. Most interestingly, medulloblastoma CSCs upregulated developmentally related genes, such as Ebfs, that were shown to be highly expressed in human medulloblastomas and play a pivotal role in experimental medulloblastomagenesis. These data indicate that gene expression analysis of medulloblastoma CSCs holds great promise not only for understanding functional differences between distinct CSC populations but also for identifying meaningful signatures that might stratify medulloblastoma patients beyond histopathologic staging. SIGNIFICANCE: The functional and molecular comparison between the cell progenitor lineages from which medulloblastoma is thought to arise and medulloblastoma CSCs might lead to the identifi cation of novel, potentially relevant mediators of medulloblastomagenesis. Our fi ndings provide a rationale for the exploitation of mouse CSCs as a valuable preclinical model for human medulloblastoma, both for the defi nition of CSC-associated gene signatures with predictive mean and for the identifi cation of therapeutically targetable genes. Cancer Discov; 2(6); 554-68. ©2012 AACR.
doi:10.1158/2159-8290.cd-11-0199
pmid:22628409
fatcat:mx4leew2fbblfdogntipx5hqei
