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The origins of medulloblastoma tumours in humans

How certain subgroups of a childhood brain tumour called a medulloblastoma arise has been unclear. Evidence now implicates a cell type found only in developing human brains as the originator of these tumours.
  1. Timothy N. Phoenix

    1. Timothy N. Phoenix is at the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267, USA, and at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

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A brain tumour called a medulloblastoma is a relatively common type of childhood cancer, and encompasses four distinct subgroups1. The genetic causes and cellular origin have been identified for two of these subgroups (called WNT and SHH, respectively, after the signalling proteins associated with these two categories)2,3. However, much less is known about the remaining two groups (termed group 3 and group 4), which account for most cases. Writing in Nature, Smith et al.4 and Hendrikse et al.5 provide insights into the origin and causes of these subgroups.

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Nature 609, 901-903 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02951-x

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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