Medulloblastomics revisited: biological and clinical insights from thousands of patients.

Nat Rev Cancer
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumour primarily diagnosed during childhood, has recently been the focus of intensive molecular profiling efforts, profoundly advancing our understanding of biologically and clinically heterogeneous disease subgroups. Genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic and proteomic landscapes have now been mapped for an unprecedented number of bulk samples from patients with medulloblastoma and, more recently, for single medulloblastoma cells. These efforts have provided pivotal new insights into the diverse molecular mechanisms presumed to drive tumour initiation, maintenance and recurrence across individual subgroups and subtypes. Translational opportunities stemming from this knowledge are continuing to evolve, providing a framework for improved diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. In this Review, we summarize recent advances derived from this continued molecular characterization of medulloblastoma and contextualize this progress towards the deployment of more effective, molecularly informed treatments for affected patients.

Year of Publication
2020
Journal
Nat Rev Cancer
Volume
20
Issue
1
Pages
42-56
Date Published
2020 01
ISSN
1474-1768
DOI
10.1038/s41568-019-0223-8
PubMed ID
31819232
Links
Grant list
R01 CA232143 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States