Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program, NCI-Designated Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, California.
Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Cancer Res. 2020 Dec 1;80(23):5393-5407. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-1655. Epub 2020 Oct 12.
Medulloblastoma is among the most common malignant brain tumors in children. Recent studies have identified at least four subgroups of the disease that differ in terms of molecular characteristics and patient outcomes. Despite this heterogeneity, most patients with medulloblastoma receive similar therapies, including surgery, radiation, and intensive chemotherapy. Although these treatments prolong survival, many patients still die from the disease and survivors suffer severe long-term side effects from therapy. We hypothesize that each patient with medulloblastoma is sensitive to different therapies and that tailoring therapy based on the molecular and cellular characteristics of patients' tumors will improve outcomes. To test this, we assembled a panel of orthotopic patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and subjected them to DNA sequencing, gene expression profiling, and high-throughput drug screening. Analysis of DNA sequencing revealed that most medulloblastomas do not have actionable mutations that point to effective therapies. In contrast, gene expression and drug response data provided valuable information about potential therapies for every tumor. For example, drug screening demonstrated that actinomycin D, which is used for treatment of sarcoma but rarely for medulloblastoma, was active against PDXs representing Group 3 medulloblastoma, the most aggressive form of the disease. Functional analysis of tumor cells was successfully used in a clinical setting to identify more treatment options than sequencing alone. These studies suggest that it should be possible to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach and begin to treat each patient with therapies that are effective against their specific tumor. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings show that high-throughput drug screening identifies therapies for medulloblastoma that cannot be predicted by genomic or transcriptomic analysis.
髓母细胞瘤是儿童中最常见的恶性脑肿瘤之一。最近的研究已经确定了该疾病至少四个不同的分子特征和患者预后亚组。尽管存在这种异质性,但大多数髓母细胞瘤患者接受的治疗方法相似,包括手术、放疗和强化化疗。尽管这些治疗方法延长了患者的生存时间,但许多患者仍死于该疾病,幸存者也因治疗而遭受严重的长期副作用。我们假设每个髓母细胞瘤患者对不同的治疗方法敏感,根据患者肿瘤的分子和细胞特征量身定制治疗方案将改善预后。为了验证这一点,我们组装了一组原位患者来源的异种移植(PDX),并对它们进行了 DNA 测序、基因表达谱分析和高通量药物筛选。DNA 测序分析表明,大多数髓母细胞瘤没有可指向有效治疗方法的可操作突变。相比之下,基因表达和药物反应数据为每个肿瘤的潜在治疗方法提供了有价值的信息。例如,药物筛选表明放线菌素 D 对代表疾病最具侵袭性形式的 3 组髓母细胞瘤的 PDX 有效,而放线菌素 D 通常用于治疗肉瘤,很少用于治疗髓母细胞瘤。肿瘤细胞的功能分析成功地用于临床,确定了比单独测序更多的治疗选择。这些研究表明,有可能不再采用一刀切的方法,而是开始为每个患者提供针对其特定肿瘤有效的治疗方法。意义:这些发现表明,高通量药物筛选确定了无法通过基因组或转录组分析预测的髓母细胞瘤治疗方法。