Medulloblastoma is among the most malignant of the pediatric brain tumors, having an average 5-year survival rate of only 50%. Medulloblastoma is believed to arise mostly from the undifferentiated neural stem cells (NSCs) in the external granule layer (EGL) cells of the cerebellum. Although several mechanisms have been found to be involved in medulloblastoma tumorigenesis, each of them represents only a small fraction of all human medulloblastoma tumors. Thus, one challenge for studies of medulloblastoma is understanding the mechanisms that regulate most of these tumors. Our previous studies with human medulloblastoma tumor samples, a tissue culture systemof an NSC line, and an orthotopic intracranial mouse model system suggested a novel convergence of known medulloblastoma mechanisms via REST/NRSF as a cause for most medulloblastoma tumors. In this grant, we propose to examine the physiological relevance of the cooperation of REST/NRSF, c-Myc, the beta-catenin pathway, and the Shh pathway in producing a medulloblastoma phenotype by using two in vivo models, RCAS/Ntv-a mice (somatic gene transfer) and a transgenic mouse system (germline gene transfer). We also propose to examine the role of the central molecule REST/NRSF as a potential target for medulloblastoma therapy. Thus, by combining developmental biology, transcription biology, cancer biology, and mouse models, the proposed studies will yield critical information towards our long-term goal of studying the genesis of medulloblastoma and will produce mechanism-based animal models that can be used to identify new, physiologically relevant targets for therapy and to test both existing and new drugs for medulloblastoma. The experiments proposed here are in accordance with the recommendations of the NCI Brain Tumor Progress Review Group.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA081255-09
Application #
7541439
Study Section
Cancer Molecular Pathobiology Study Section (CAMP)
Program Officer
Mietz, Judy
Project Start
1999-07-01
Project End
2010-12-31
Budget Start
2009-01-01
Budget End
2009-12-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$236,267
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department
Neurology
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
800772139
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77030
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Singh, Sanjay K; Veo, Bethany L; Kagalwala, Mohamedi N et al. (2012) Dynamic status of REST in the mouse ESC pluripotency network. PLoS One 7:e43659
Gopalakrishnan, Vidya; Bie, Bihua; Sinnappah-Kang, Neeta D et al. (2010) Myoblast-derived neuronal cells form glutamatergic neurons in the mouse cerebellum. Stem Cells 28:1839-47
Singh, Sanjay K; Kagalwala, Mohamedi N; Parker-Thornburg, Jan et al. (2008) REST maintains self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Nature 453:223-7
Kagalwala, M N; Singh, S K; Majumder, S (2008) Stemness is only a state of the cell. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 73:227-34
Su, Xiaohua; Gopalakrishnan, Vidya; Stearns, Duncan et al. (2006) Abnormal expression of REST/NRSF and Myc in neural stem/progenitor cells causes cerebellar tumors by blocking neuronal differentiation. Mol Cell Biol 26:1666-78
Majumder, Sadhan (2006) REST in good times and bad: roles in tumor suppressor and oncogenic activities. Cell Cycle 5:1929-35
Su, Xiaohua; Kameoka, Sei; Lentz, Susan et al. (2004) Activation of REST/NRSF target genes in neural stem cells is sufficient to cause neuronal differentiation. Mol Cell Biol 24:8018-25
Watanabe, Yumi; Kameoka, Sei; Gopalakrishnan, Vidya et al. (2004) Conversion of myoblasts to physiologically active neuronal phenotype. Genes Dev 18:889-900
Immaneni, A; Lawinger, P; Zhao, Z et al. (2000) REST-VP16 activates multiple neuronal differentiation genes in human NT2 cells. Nucleic Acids Res 28:3403-10