Here, we have used interphase fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for C11orf95 and RELA, immunohistochemistry (IHC) for p65-RelA and the recently developed DNA methylation-based classification besides conventional histopathology, and compared the precision of the methods in 40 supratentorial pediatric brain tumors diagnosed as ependymomas in the past years.
RELA fusion proteins activate signaling for tumor proliferation and malignant progression, resulting in poorer prognoses in these patients compared to those in patients with other ST ependymomas.
Array-comparative genomic hybridization showed copy number abnormalities consistent with chromosomal instability without evidence of RELA- or YAP1-fusion-features most often seen in posterior fossa ependymoma group B.
By DNA methylation profiling, tumors with MN1 or RELA rearrangement clustered with high-grade neuroepithelial tumor with MN1 alteration (HGNET-MN1) and RELA-fusion ependymoma, respectively.
Our data identify a highly recurrent genetic alteration of RELA in human cancer, and the C11orf95-RELA fusion protein as a potential therapeutic target in supratentorial ependymoma.
We used real-time polymerase chain reaction, conventional real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Sanger sequencing to characterize RELA fusion status in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples from 42 ST-EPs (12 adults and 30 pediatric).
Interestingly, almost half of the patients with RELA fusion-positive ependymomas are adults (13/28), and 89.3% (25/28) cases are anaplastic ependymomas, which suggests that RELA fusion testing is necessary in adults with STEEs.
They are supratentorial ependymomas with C11orf95-RELA fusion or YAP1 fusion, infratentorial ependymomas with or without a hypermethylated phenotype (CIMP), and spinal cord ependymomas.
We here describe a case of a sarcoma developing in a patient previously treated with chemotherapy and radiation whose original ependymoma and recurrent sarcoma were both shown to carry the type 1 C11orf95-RELA fusion transcript indicating a monoclonal origin for both tumors.
Stable knockdown of LDOC1 in EPN cell lines resulted in a significant increase in gene transcription of v-rel avian reticuloendotheliosis viral oncogene homolog A, which correlated to an increase in NF-κB target genes.
Furthermore, treatment of the RELA-fused EPN cell line with the Notch inhibitors impaired the Notch signaling expression and revealed that Notch axis is not essential for cell proliferation and survival in this setting.
We propose that EphB2 mediated ependymoma development is a multifactorial process requiring microenvironment directed receptor activation, resulting in changes in the phosphorylation status of key regulatory proteins, maintenance of a stem-like state and cellular proliferation.
The transcriptome of human supratentorial ependymomas with amplified EPHB2 and deleted INK4A/ARF matched only that of embryonic cerebral Ink4a/Arf(-/-) NSCs.
We investigated the NGF, BDNF, GDNF and NGF receptors (TrkA and p75) expression in the tumour tissues, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of ten children affected by low-grade astrocytomas and ependymomas.
Mutations in the neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) gene are the predominant cause in the development of sporadic schwannomas and are also involved in the pathogenesis of meningiomas and ependymomas.