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Review
. 2015;4(2):79-89.
doi: 10.2217/cns.14.58.

Medulloblastoma development: tumor biology informs treatment decisions

Vidya Gopalakrishnan  1 , Rong-Hua Tao, Tara Dobson, William Brugmann, Soumen Khatua
Affiliations
Review

Medulloblastoma development: tumor biology informs treatment decisions

Vidya Gopalakrishnan et al. CNS Oncol. 2015.

Abstract

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. Current treatments including surgery, craniospinal radiation and high-dose chemotherapy have led to improvement in survival. However, the risk for recurrence as well as significant long-term neurocognitive and endocrine sequelae associated with current treatment modalities underscore the urgent need for novel tumor-specific, normal brain-sparing therapies. It has also provided the impetus for research focused on providing a better understanding of medulloblastoma biology. The expectation is that such studies will lead to the identification of new therapeutic targets and eventually to an increase in personalized treatment approaches.

Keywords: immunotherapy for pediatric brain tumors; medulloblastoma; molecular classification; mouse models and preclinical studies; targeted agents for clinical studies; tumor epigenomics; tumor genomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Work in V Gopalakrishnan's laboratory is supported by grants from the NIH (R01NS079715 and R03NS077021), American Cancer Society (118165-RSG-09–273–01-DDC), Addis Faith, Noah's Light, Rally Vs Cancer, Hyundai Hope on Wheels and The Cure Starts Now Foundations. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Figures

<b>Figure 1.</b>
Figure 1.. Overview of major signaling pathways and druggable nodels in medulloblastoma.
Targets of drugs under clinical investigation in children with pediatric solid/brain tumors are circled.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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