Language

English

Publication Date

1-14-2026

Journal

Developmental Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.devcel.2025.10.018

PMID

41314219

PMCID

PMC12676976

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

5-19-2026

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Over the last decade, an unprecedented number of sequencing studies have characterized the molecular landscape of pediatric brain cancers, including the highly heterogeneous tumor medulloblastoma (MB). Extensive MB profiling has enabled a much deeper understanding of the primitive neurodevelopmental programs that are hijacked during tumor progression. However, we have yet to successfully target and fully eradicate the putative stem and early progenitor cells that drive MB tumorigenesis. This goal will require better human models that faithfully recapitulate oncogenic events, a deeper understanding of the mechanisms governing cell fate decisions in the primary and metastatic compartments, and comprehensive validation studies of MB stem/progenitor cell molecular signatures extracted from bioinformatics datasets. In this perspective, we summarize the current knowledge of the developmental origins of MB and highlight the unmet needs pertaining to tumor modeling, characterization of molecular programs driving metastatic cells, and post-transcriptional regulation of cell fate.

Keywords

Medulloblastoma, Humans, Disease Progression, Neoplastic Stem Cells, Animals, Cerebellar Neoplasms, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic

Published Open-Access

yes

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