Page 22 - Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre Annual Report 2022 to 2023

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XI HUANG LAB - Neuron. November 1st 2022.
Mechanosensitive brain tumor cells construct blood-tumor barrier to mask chemosensitivity
The blood-tumour barrier is a significant obstacle to effective brain cancer treatment. In this study, Xi Huang’s lab found that a subset of medulloblastoma cells can extend finger-like projections to encircle and cover tumour blood vessels, which was dependent on the ion channel Piezo2. Importantly, the lab discovered that knockout of this channel protein dramatically enhances the response of the disease to chemotherapy, potentially offering new treatment options for medulloblastoma.
TAYLOR LAB - Nature. September 21st 2022.
Failure of human rhombic lip differentiation underlies medulloblastoma formation
Medulloblastoma represents four distinct subgroups of cerebellar cancers that demonstrate extensive heterogeneity between each other. Analyzing genomic information of the developing cerebellum down to single cell resolution, Hendrikse and colleagues illuminated the role of defective cell differentiation within different areas of the rhombic lip as the mechanism underlying much of the heterogeneity seen between the medulloblastoma subgroups, and for the first time, identified the likely cellular origin of Group 3 and 4 medulloblastoma.
DIRKS LAB - Nature Communications. July 19th 2022.
A brain precursor atlas reveals the acquisition of developmental-like states in adult cerebral tumours
The cells making up the bulk mass of brain tumours contain cell types that resemble cells found during early nervous system development within the human embryo. With this in mind, the Dirks lab created an exhaustive cellular reference atlas of the developing mouse brain by RNA sequencing over 100,000 individual cells and compared these signatures with glial tumour signatures. This study found tumour expression signatures overlapping with an embryonic glial precursor cell, identifying a cell of origin lineage that clinicians could eventually target therapeutically.
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