Humanized Stem Cell Models of Pediatric Medulloblastoma Reveal an Oct4/mTOR Axis that Promotes Malignancy.

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Čančer M, Hutter S, Holmberg KO, Rosén G, Sundström A, Tailor J, Bergström T, Garancher A, Essand M, Wechsler-Reya RJ, Falk A, Weishaupt H, Swartling FJ

Cell Stem Cell 25 (6) 855-870.e11 [2019-12-05; online 2019-11-27]

Medulloblastoma (MB), the most frequent malignant childhood brain tumor, can arise from cellular malfunctions during hindbrain development. Here we generate humanized models for Sonic Hedgehog (SHH)-subgroup MB via MYCN overexpression in primary human hindbrain-derived neuroepithelial stem (hbNES) cells or iPSC-derived NES cells, which display a range of aggressive phenotypes upon xenografting. iPSC-derived NES tumors develop quickly with leptomeningeal dissemination, whereas hbNES-derived cells exhibit delayed tumor formation with less dissemination. Methylation and expression profiling show that tumors from both origins recapitulate hallmarks of infant SHH MB and reveal that mTOR activation, as a result of increased Oct4, promotes aggressiveness of human SHH tumors. Targeting mTOR decreases cell viability and prolongs survival, showing the utility of these varied models for dissecting mechanisms mediating tumor aggression and demonstrating the value of humanized models for a better understanding of pediatric cancers.

Bioinformatics Support for Computational Resources [Service]

NGI Uppsala (Uppsala Genome Center) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 31786016

DOI 10.1016/j.stem.2019.10.005

Crossref 10.1016/j.stem.2019.10.005

pii: S1934-5909(19)30426-6
pmc: PMC6900751