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Childhood Medulloblastoma: An Overview

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Medulloblastoma

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2423))

Abstract

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor, representing 60% of childhood intracranial embryonal tumors. Despite multimodal advances in therapies over the last 20 years that have yielded a 5-year survival rate of 75%, high-risk patients (younger than 3 years, subtotal resection, metastatic lesions at diagnosis) still experience a 5-year overall survival of less than 70%. In this introductory chapter on pediatric MB, we describe the initial discrimination of MB based on histopathological examination and the more recent progress made in global gene expression profiling methods that have allowed scientists to more accurately subclassify and prognosticate on MB based on molecular characteristics. The identification of subtype-specific molecular drivers and pathways presents novel therapeutic targets that could lead to MB subtype-specific treatment modalities. Additionally, we detail how the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis provides an explanation for tumor recurrence, and the potential for CSC-targeted therapies to address treatment-refractory MB. These personalized therapies can potentially increase MB survivorship and negate some of the long-term neurotoxicity associated with the current standard of care for MB patients.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Yujin Suk & Sheila K. Singh

  2. Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Yujin Suk & Ian Burns

  3. Department of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    William D. Gwynne, Chitra Venugopal & Sheila K. Singh

Authors
  1. Yujin Suk
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  2. William D. Gwynne
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  3. Ian Burns
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  4. Chitra Venugopal
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  5. Sheila K. Singh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sheila K. Singh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Abhinav Dey

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Anshu Malhotra

  3. Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Neha Garg

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© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Suk, Y., Gwynne, W.D., Burns, I., Venugopal, C., Singh, S.K. (2022). Childhood Medulloblastoma: An Overview. In: Dey, A., Malhotra, A., Garg, N. (eds) Medulloblastoma. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2423. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1952-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1952-0_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1951-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1952-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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