The Biological Diversity and Therapeutic Implications of Medulloblastoma Metastases and Recurrence
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Metastasis".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 January 2024) | Viewed by 916
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant childhood brain tumour. Four core subgroups have been described (WNT, sonic hedgehog (SHH), Group 3, and Group 4), which represent distinct disease entities in terms of both fundamental biological and clinical characteristics. Standard-of-care therapy for medulloblastoma includes surgical resection, craniospinal irradiation (in patient ≥3 years), and cytotoxic chemotherapy. Treatment outcome is correlated with patient age, clinicopathology, and defined molecular features. Five-year overall survival rates have plateaued to less than 70%; however, this highly encouraging survival statistic masks the troubling fact that survivors are left with severe neurological, life-altering side effects.
For patients with recurrent medulloblastomas following current standard-of-care protocols, the disease is almost universally fatal (<10% survival rate), and therefore, represent some of the most significant unmet clinical challenges in paediatric oncology. Medulloblastoma subgroups remain unchanged at recurrence; however, the divergent clonal selection from primary disease to metastases and recurrence is complex. Little is understood about the molecular drivers required for medulloblastoma metastasis and survival within the leptomeningeal space. Given the lack of human data at the level of metastasis and recurrence, the refinement of preclinical models may improve our understanding of resistance mechanisms, and suggest new treatment strategies for subsequent clinical trials.
This Special Issue, entitled ‘The Biological Diversity and Therapeutic Implications of Medulloblastoma Metastases and Recurrence’, aims to highlight the complexities of medulloblastoma through primary, metastatic, and recurrent disease progression, as well as prioritizing strategies to implement in future clinical trials.
Dr. Laura Donovan
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- gene signatures
- metastasis
- recurrence
- medulloblastoma subtypes
- novel therapies
