MiR-34a is dispensable for normal development but its loss accelerates medulloblastoma formation
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE40511 | GEO | 2014/09/22
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA174321
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:Previous studies have evaluated the role of miRNAs in the initiation and progression of cancer. MiR-34a was found to be downregulated in several tumors, including medulloblastoma. We here analysed the function of miR-34a in vivo by targeted transgenesis to generate mice with constitutive deletion of the miR-34a gene, which resulted in the absence of mir-34a in all analysed tissues. Nevertheless, these mice were viable and fertile. A comprehensive standardized phenotypic analysis including more than 300 single parameters performed by the German Mouse Clinic revealed no apparent phenotype. Analysis of miR-34a expression in human medulloblastomas and medulloblastoma cell lines revealed significant downregulation as compared to human cerebellum. Re-expression of mir-34a in human medulloblastoma cells in vitro reduced cell viability, cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. Among the targets downregulated by miR-34a in human medulloblastoma cells were NMYC and SIRT1. Activation of the Shh pathway by targeted overexpression of SmoA1 causes medulloblastoma in mice, which is dependent on the presence and upregulation of NMYC. Analysis of miR-34a in ND2:SmoA1-derived medulloblastomas revealed significant suppression of miR-34a compared to normal cerebellum. Crossbreeding these mice with miR-34a knockout mice significantly accelerated medulloblastoma growth in mice deficient for miR-34a. Interestingly, NMYC and SIRT1 were highly expressed in medulloblastomas derived from these mice. We here demonstrate that miR-34a is dispensable for normal development, but that its loss accelerates medulloblastoma. Strategies aiming to re-express miR-34a in tumors could therefore represent an efficient therapy option. For genome-wide expression analysis total RNA from brain and thymus of three or four male miR34a and four control mice was isolated using RNeasy Midi kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The cDNA microarrays were generated, hybridized and analysed as described (Horsch et al 2009). Two chip hybridizations were performed with total RNA for each individual mutant mouse against a reference RNA pool of the same organ.
2014-09-22 | E-GEOD-40511 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Deregulated developmental processes in the cerebellum cause medulloblastoma, the most common malignant tumor of the central nervous system. About 20-30% of cases are caused by mutations increasing the activity of the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway, a critical mitogen in cerebellar development. The proto-oncogene Smoothened is a key transducer of the Shh pathway. Activating mutations in Smoothened that lead to constitutive activity of the Shh pathway have been identified in human medulloblastoma. To understand the molecular and cellular effects of Smoothened variants in normal development and medulloblastoma genesis, we generated the SmoA2 transgenic mouse model which expresses the transgene exclusively in granule neuron precursors. In this study, we demonstrate how two point mutations in a single molecule can produce starkly different phenotypes as seen in comparison to our previous model, ND2:SmoA1. The SmoA2 mice have severe aberrations in cerebellar development whereas the SmoA1 mice are largely normal during development. Medulloblastomas in the SmoA2 mice develop in the dysplastic cerebellar milieu. Intriguingly, despite disruptions in the stereotypic organization of the cerebellum, the SmoA2 mice do not exhibit any overt abnormalities in motor coordination. The differences in the global transcriptional profiles downstream of SmoA1 and SmoA2 further demonstrate the distinctiveness of the two oncogenic Smoothened mutations. The SmoA2 model serves as a unique spatiotemporal tool to investigate the functional significance of the reiterative cerebellar circuitry as well as to further understand Shh pathway mechanics in cerebellar development and oncogenesis. We previously generated a SmoA1 transgenic mouse medulloblastoma model, which expresses the SmoA1 transgene driven by the GNP-specific fragment of the promoter of ND2 transcription factor leading to constitutively active Shh signaling exclusively in the cerebellum. In this study, we characterize the ND2:SmoA2 transgenic mouse model with a similarly designed transgene expressing the SmoA2 mutation. To assess transcriptional changes downstream of SmoA1 and SmoA2, we evaluated global gene expression profiles of P5 SmoA1, SmoA2 and Wt age-matched cerebella. We chose this specific developmental stage because (1) the phenotypes of SmoA1 and SmoA2 are robust and distinct at P5; (2) at P5 GNPs undergo proliferation, migration and differentiation and therefore expression profiling could capture key differences in multiple processes.
2012-11-02 | E-GEOD-34593 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Deregulated developmental processes in the cerebellum cause medulloblastoma, the most common malignant tumor of the central nervous system. About 20-30% of cases are caused by mutations increasing the activity of the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway, a critical mitogen in cerebellar development. The proto-oncogene Smoothened is a key transducer of the Shh pathway. Activating mutations in Smoothened that lead to constitutive activity of the Shh pathway have been identified in human medulloblastoma. To understand the molecular and cellular effects of Smoothened variants in normal development and medulloblastoma genesis, we generated the SmoA2 transgenic mouse model which expresses the transgene exclusively in granule neuron precursors. In this study, we demonstrate how two point mutations in a single molecule can produce starkly different phenotypes as seen in comparison to our previous model, ND2:SmoA1. The SmoA2 mice have severe aberrations in cerebellar development whereas the SmoA1 mice are largely normal during development. Medulloblastomas in the SmoA2 mice develop in the dysplastic cerebellar milieu. Intriguingly, despite disruptions in the stereotypic organization of the cerebellum, the SmoA2 mice do not exhibit any overt abnormalities in motor coordination. The differences in the global transcriptional profiles downstream of SmoA1 and SmoA2 further demonstrate the distinctiveness of the two oncogenic Smoothened mutations. The SmoA2 model serves as a unique spatiotemporal tool to investigate the functional significance of the reiterative cerebellar circuitry as well as to further understand Shh pathway mechanics in cerebellar development and oncogenesis.
2012-11-02 | GSE34593 | GEO
Project description:Recent publications have described an important role for cross talk between PI-3 kinase and sonic hedgehog signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of medulloblastoma. Our primary objective was to determine if loss of Pten promotes medulloblastoma tumor formation. When mice expressing SmoA1 were crossed with mice heterozygous for Pten, SmoA1 +; Pten +/- mice exhibited decreased survival, an increased incidence, and a shorter time to onset of symptoms, compared to SmoA1 +; Pten +/+ mice. Tumors from SmoA1 +; Pten +/+ mice exhibited classic histology. In contrast, tumors from SmoA1 +; Pten +/- mice exhibited predominantly nodular/desmoplastic histology and evidence of neuronal differentiation. Analysis by gene expression microarray revealed a clear separation of gene signatures, with upregulation of genes such as Pik3cb, Mapk8, Frap1, and multiple genes involved in angiogenesis in SmoA1+; Pten +/- tumors. Downregulated genes included Pten, Trp53, and Rb1. Western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis revealed decreased expression of Pten and increased activation of Akt in the SmoA1+; Pten +/- tumors. Consistent with these findings, we detected strong expression of PCNA throughout the Pten +/+ tumors and focal areas of intense staining for PCNA in tumors from SmoA1 +/-; Pten +/- mice. Conversely, staining for Cleaved Caspase 3 revealed multiple punctuate foci in SmoA1 +; Pten +/+ tumors and almost no staining in SmoA1 +/-; Pten +/- tumors. These results suggest that increased signaling through PI-3 kinase pathways promotes MB tumorigenesis by driving proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis of granule neuron precursor cells in the developing cerebellum.
2009-11-21 | GSE19059 | GEO
Project description:Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) is silenced by promoter methylation in many types of tumors, yet ASC's role in most cancers remains unknown. Here, we show that ASC is highly expressed in a model of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain cancer; ASC is also expressed in human medulloblastomas. Importantly, while ASC deficiency did not affect normal cerebellar development, ASC knockout mice on the Smoothened (ND2:SmoA1) transgenic model of medulloblastoma exhibited a profound reduction in medulloblastoma incidence and a delayed tumor onset. A similar decrease in tumorigenesis with ASC deficiency was also seen in the hGFAP-Cre:SmoM2 mouse model of medulloblastoma. Interestingly, hyperproliferation of the external granule layer (EGL) was comparable at P20 in both wild-type and ASC-deficient SmoA1 mice. However, while the apoptosis and differentiation markers remained unchanged at this age, proliferation makers were decreased, and the EGL was reduced in thickness and area by P60. This reduction in proliferation with ASC deficiency was also seen in isolated SmoA1 cerebellar granule precursor cells in vitro, indicating that the effect of ASC deletion on proliferation was cell autonomous. Interestingly, ASC-deficient SmoA1 cerebella exhibited disrupted expression of genes in the transforming growth factor-β pathway and increased level of nuclear Smad3. Taken together, these results demonstrate an unexpected role for ASC in Sonic hedgehog-driven medulloblastoma tumorigenesis, thus identifying ASC as a promising novel target for antitumor therapy.
2014-05-23 | GSE48682 | GEO
Project description:Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric CNS cancer. In order to identify important molecules important for deregulated tumor cell growth, we use microarray to detail the global gene expression profile in Shh-driven mouse medulloblastomas and determine the most differentially expressed genes compared to the control wild-type cerebellum. Medulloblastoma and control cerebellum tissues were dissected and processed for RNA extraction and microarray analyses using Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST. The mice were from a mixed genetic background involving C57BL/6 and C3H strains.
2012-03-15 | E-GEOD-36525 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor, and mechanisms underlying its development are poorly understood. We identified recurrent amplification of the miR-17/92 polycistron proto-oncogene in 6% of pediatric medulloblastomas by high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping arrays and subsequent interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization on a human medulloblastoma tissue microarray. Profiling the expression of 427 mature microRNAs (miRNA) in a series of 90 primary human medulloblastomas revealed that components of the miR-17/92 polycistron are the most highly up-regulated miRNAs in medulloblastoma. Expression of miR-17/92 was highest in the subgroup of medulloblastomas associated with activation of the sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway compared with other subgroups of medulloblastoma. Medulloblastomas in which miR-17/92 was up-regulated also had elevated levels of MYC/MYCN expression. Consistent with its regulation by Shh, we observed that Shh treatment of primary cerebellar granule neuron precursors (CGNP), proposed cells of origin for the Shh-associated medulloblastomas, resulted in increased miR-17/92 expression. In CGNPs, the Shh effector N-myc, but not Gli1, induced miR-17/92 expression. Ectopic miR-17/92 expression in CGNPs synergized with exogenous Shh to increase proliferation and also enabled them to proliferate in the absence of Shh. We conclude that miR-17/92 is a positive effector of Shh-mediated proliferation and that aberrant expression/amplification of this miR confers a growth advantage to medulloblastomas. A total of 90 primary medulloblastoma specimens were profiled by Affymetrix exon array and gene-level analysis was performed.
2010-04-14 | E-GEOD-21166 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Medulloblastoma encompasses a collection of clinically and molecularly diverse tumor subtypes that together comprise the most common malignant childhood brain tumor. These tumors are thought to arise within the cerebellum, with approximately 25% originating from granule neuron precursor cells (GNPCs) following aberrant activation of the Sonic Hedgehog pathway (hereafter, SHH-subtype). The pathological processes that drive heterogeneity among the other medulloblastoma subtypes are not known, hindering the development of much needed new therapies. Here, we provide evidence that a discrete subtype of medulloblastoma that contains activating mutations in the WNT pathway effector CTNNB1 (hereafter, WNT-subtype), arises outside the cerebellum from cells of the dorsal brainstem. We found that genes marking human WNT-subtype medulloblastomas are more frequently expressed in the lower rhombic lip (LRL) and embryonic dorsal brainstem than in the upper rhombic lip (URL) and developing cerebellum. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intra-operative reports showed that human WNT-subtype tumors infiltrate the dorsal brainstem, while SHH-subtype tumors are located within the cerebellar hemispheres. Activating mutations in Ctnnb1 had little impact on progenitor cell populations in the cerebellum, but caused the abnormal accumulation of cells on the embryonic dorsal brainstem that included aberrantly proliferating Zic1+ precursor cells. These lesions persisted in all mutant adult mice and in 15% of cases in which Tp53 was concurrently deleted, progressed to form medulloblastomas that recapitulated the anatomy and gene expression profiles of human WNT-subtype medulloblastoma. We provide the first evidence that subtypes of medulloblastoma have distinct cellular origins. Our data provide an explanation for the marked molecular and clinical differences between SHH and WNT-subtype medulloblastomas and have profound implications for future research and treatment of this important childhood cancer. A total of 16 samples are analyzed, repsresenting 4 experimental groups: Ctnnb1 medulloblastoma (3 samples); Ptch1 medulloblastoma (6 samples); embryonic dorsal brainstem (4 samples); and postnatal granule neuron precursor cells (3 samples). Every sample was prepared from a different mouse.
2010-11-01 | E-GEOD-24628 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Medulloblastoma is a malignant brain tumor that occurs predominantly in children. Current risk stratification based on the clinical parameters is inadequate for accurate prognostication. In order to get a better understanding of medulloblastoma biology, miRNA profiling of medulloblastomas was carried out in parallel with the expression profiling of protein- coding genes. miRNA profiling of medulloblastomas was carried out using Taqman Low Density Density Aarray v 1.0 having 365 human microRNAs. In parallel, genome--wide expression profiling of protein coding genes was carried out using Affymetrix gene 1.0 ST arrays. Both the profiling studies identified four molecular subtypes of medulloblastomas. Expression levels of select protein-coding genes and miRNAs could classify an independent set of medulloblastomas. Twelve of 31 medulloblastomas were found to overexpress genes belonging to the canonical WNT signaling pathway and carry a mutation in CTNNB1 gene. A number of miRNAs like miR-193a, miR-224/miR-452 cluster, miR-182/miR-183/miR-96 cluster, and miR-148a having potential tumor/metastasis suppressive activity were found to be overexpressed in the WNT signaling associated medulloblastomas. Exogenous expression of miR-193a and miR-224, two miRNAs that have the highest WNT pathway specific upregulation, was found to inhibit proliferation, increase radiation sensitivity and reduce anchorage-independent growth of medulloblastoma cells. Expression level of tumor/metastasis suppressive miRNAs in the WNT signaling associated medulloblastomas is likely to determine their response to treatment, and thus, these miRNAs would be important biomarkers for risk stratification within the WNT signaling associated medulloblastomas. A total of 19 human sporadic medulloblastomas were profiled using the Affymetrix Gene 1.0 ST array
2012-10-27 | E-GEOD-41842 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor, and mechanisms underlying its development are poorly understood. We identified recurrent amplification of the miR-17/92 polycistron proto-oncogene in 6% of pediatric medulloblastomas by high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping arrays and subsequent interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization on a human medulloblastoma tissue microarray. Profiling the expression of 427 mature microRNAs (miRNA) in a series of 90 primary human medulloblastomas revealed that components of the miR-17/92 polycistron are the most highly up-regulated miRNAs in medulloblastoma. Expression of miR-17/92 was highest in the subgroup of medulloblastomas associated with activation of the sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway compared with other subgroups of medulloblastoma. Medulloblastomas in which miR-17/92 was up-regulated also had elevated levels of MYC/MYCN expression. Consistent with its regulation by Shh, we observed that Shh treatment of primary cerebellar granule neuron precursors (CGNP), proposed cells of origin for the Shh-associated medulloblastomas, resulted in increased miR-17/92 expression. In CGNPs, the Shh effector N-myc, but not Gli1, induced miR-17/92 expression. Ectopic miR-17/92 expression in CGNPs synergized with exogenous Shh to increase proliferation and also enabled them to proliferate in the absence of Shh. We conclude that miR-17/92 is a positive effector of Shh-mediated proliferation and that aberrant expression/amplification of this miR confers a growth advantage to medulloblastomas.
2010-04-02 | GSE21166 | GEO