"Investigation and validation of methylated hub genes in medulloblastoma"

• Grant number: 18/05401-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2018
• End date: June 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Gonzaga Tone
• Grantee: Karina Bezerra Salomão Xavier
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/20341-0 - Interactions between emerging therapeutic targets and developmental pathways associated with tumorigenesis: emphasis on pediatric malignancies, AP.TEM

Abstract

MB represents the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood; patients event-free survival could reach 70%, however, they still suffer from side effects of treatment. The embryonic characteristics of MB suggest that the identification of altered molecular mechanisms in the developmental pathways of the cerebellum could reduce the adverse consequences of therapy. Genes related to developmental pathways have also been described as controlled by epigenetic mechanisms; hypermethylation of negative regulators is a common event in MB. The thematic project "Interaction between emerging therapeutic targets and developmental pathways associated with tumorigenesis: emphasis on child and adolescent neoplasms" identified important hub genes in each molecular subgroup of MB, these genes have the largest number of connections and / or interactions, using the connectivity module measured by Pearson's absolute value. We aim to verify if the expression control of hypoexpressed genes in the SHH and Group 3 molecular subgroups may be occurring by methylation.