Proteomic analysis of medulloblastomas

• Grant number: 12/05402-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: José César Rosa
• Grantee: Érika da Silva Czernisz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Medulloblastoma, the most common tumor of the central nervous system (CNS) in childhood, represents approximately 20% of all pediatric intracranial neoplasms. It is classified as grade IV tumor by the World Health Organization (WHO) and divided into five subtypes: classic, desmoplastic/nodular, with extensive nodularity, anaplastic and large cell. The current challenge in medulloblastoma research is to obtain the early diagnosis to improve survival rates, and reduce side effects of treatment that are psychiatric disorders, skeletal growth retardation, endocrine and cognitive dysfunction. In the study of medulloblastoma, the characterization of the proteomic profile may be useful to find the relationship between the biological parameters of the tumor with your aggressiveness, and to identify markers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic targets. The proteomic profile of tumors also can be used in the stratification of patients and direction of a less toxic therapy. In the present study we will investigate the protein profile of samples of medulloblastoma compared with normal cerebellum samples and cell line DAOY. The strategy of shotgun proteomics will be used in this proposal along with peptide labeling with iTRAQ (8plex) isobars for quantification and identification of differentially expressed proteins by mass spectrometry. The differentially expressed proteins will be classified as biological process, molecular function and cellular component by Gene Ontology. Thus, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in this type of tumor and identify proteins with potential for diagnostic and prognostic markers in medulloblastoma.