Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/23224
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Molecular and in vivo characterization of cancer-propagating cells derived from MYCN-dependent medulloblastoma
Author(s): Ahmad, Zai
Jasnos, Lukasz
Gil, Veronica
Howell, Louise
Hallsworth, Albert
Petrie, Kevin
Sawado, Tomoyuki
Chesler, Louis
Contact Email: kevin.petrie@stir.ac.uk
Issue Date: 18-Mar-2015
Date Deposited: 23-May-2016
Citation: Ahmad Z, Jasnos L, Gil V, Howell L, Hallsworth A, Petrie K, Sawado T & Chesler L (2015) Molecular and in vivo characterization of cancer-propagating cells derived from MYCN-dependent medulloblastoma. PLoS ONE, 10 (3), Art. No.: e0119834. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119834
Abstract: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. While the pathways that are deregulated in MB remain to be fully characterized, amplification and/or overexpression of theMYCNgene, which is has a critical role in cerebellar development as a regulator of neural progenitor cell fate, has been identified in several MB subgroups. Phenotypically, aberrant expression of MYCN is associated with the large-cell/anaplastic MB variant, which accounts for 5-15% of cases and is associated with aggressive disease and poor clinical outcome. To better understand the role of MYCN in MBin vitroandin vivoand to aid the development of MYCN-targeted therapeutics we established tumor-derived neurosphere cell lines from the GTML (Glt1-tTA/TRE-MYCN-Luc) genetically engineered mouse model. A fraction of GTML neurospheres were found to be growth factor independent, expressed CD133 (a marker of neural stem cells), failed to differentiate upon MYCN withdrawal and were highly tumorigenic when orthotopically implanted into the cerebellum. Principal component analyzes using single cell RNA assay data suggested that the clinical candidate aurora-A kinase inhibitor MLN8237 converts GTML neurospheres to resemble non-MYCN expressors. Correlating with this, MLN8237 significantly extended the survival of mice bearing GTML MB allografts. In summary, our results demonstrate that MYCN plays a critical role in expansion and survival of aggressive MB-propagating cells, and establish GTML neurospheres as an important resource for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
DOI Link: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119834
Rights: © 2015 Ahmad et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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