Medulloblastoma: histological, molecular and immunopathological aspects

Abstract

Medulloblastoma is a cerebellar tumor classified as primitive neuroectodermal tumor and is prevalent in children, especially male. With regard to histological classification, there are five variations: classical, desmoplastic, anaplastic, large-cell variant and with extensive nodularity. Several studies have reported that medulloblastoma pathogenesis is related to mutations in CNS growth factors, and the main pathways involved are Sonic Hedgehog, NOTCH, WNT, and OTX. Also regarding the immunology, patients with medulloblastoma have a high serum concentration of INF-? and TH17 cells in peripheral blood, and it was observed that TGF-? has been associated with mitogenic stimulation, and possibly associated to the pathogenesis of this disease. The prevalence of a TH1 response related to the survival was also described. The development of therapies for medulloblastoma treatment, though limited, is significant, as they result in an improvement in the patient’s survival. However, a better understanding of the mechanism involved in its immunopathogenesis is still necessary for the development of new drugs and ways of treatment.

Keywords

• Tumor cerebelar
• Vias de sinalização
• Imunopatologia.