The mTOR pathway controls mRNA translation of mitogenic proteins and is a central regulator of metabolism in malignant cells. Development of malignant cell resistance is a limiting factor to the effects of mTOR inhibitors, but the mechanisms accounting for such resistance are not well understood. We provide evidence that mTORC1 inhibition by rapamycin results in engagement of a negative feedbac...

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. The most prevalent chromosomal abnormalities are isochromosome 17q and loss of 17p, the location of the tumor suppressor gene p53. Mutations in the p53 gene in medulloblastoma are relatively infrequent but have recently been correlated to poor prognosis. Furthermore, the p53 gene encodes nine different isoforms, which may ha...

Deregulation of the Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signalling network is a hallmark of oncogenesis. Also medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children, is characterized by high levels of AKT phosphorylation and activated PI3K signalling in medulloblastoma is associated with enhanced cellular motility, survival and chemoresistency underscoring its role of as a potentia...

Hypoxia is known to induce overexpression of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) and thus overexpression promotes uPAR-mediated survival signaling in various cancers. Moreover, hypoxia/ overexpression of uPAR in cancer cells promote the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and thereby invasiveness and metastasis. In this study, we show that intermittent hypoxia ...

A case of extraaxial cerebello-pontine angle medulloblastoma in a 56 year old male is reported for its unusual location & age. Medulloblastoma accounts for 20% of brain tumors arising in childhood Peak incidence occurs between the 5 & 10 year of life.[1] Cerebellar medulloblastoma is classically seen during childhood, and less than 25% of these tumors are found in adults below 40 years of age. ...

PAX2 is a paired box transcription factor possessing a fundamental role in the embryogenesis of hindbrain and urinary tract. PAX genes are proto-oncogenes, PAX2 expression may contribute to the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma. Because of the expression of PAX2 in the developing hindbrain and its essential role in cerebellar development, it has been hypothesized that PAX2 may also be involv...

Medulloblastoma, one of the most malignant pediatric brain tumors, is believed to arise from the undifferentiated external granule-layer cells in the cerebellum. It is a heterogeneous cancer, and the mechanism of tumorigenesis for the majority of types is unknown. Repressor element-1 silencing transcription/neuron-restrictive silencer factor (REST/NRSF) is a transcriptional repressor that can b...

Purpose: Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Despite recent improvements, the molecular mechanisms driving medulloblastoma are not fully understood and further elucidation could provide cues to improve outcome prediction and therapeutic approaches. ExperimentalDesign:Here, we conducted ameta-analysis ofmouse and humanmedulloblastoma gene expression data sets, t...

Medulloblastoma is comprised of at least four molecular subgroups with distinct clinical outcome (WHO classification 2016). SHH-TP53-mutated as well as MYC-amplified Non-WNT/Non-SHH medulloblastoma show the worst prognosis.Here we present evidence that single application of the multi-kinase inhibitor Vandetanib displays anti-neoplastic efficacy against cell lines derived from high-risk SHH-TP53...

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Folate receptor 1 (Folr1) was abundantly expressed in some epithelial malignancies. However the expression profile and the role of clinicopathological significance and therapeutic target potential in medulloblastoma still remain elusive. Currently we detected the expression of Folr1 in medulloblastoma and identified the diagn...