New perspectives in the treatment of adult medulloblastoma in the era of molecular oncology

Alba A Brandes; Marco Bartolotti; Gianluca Marucci; Claudio Ghimenton; Raffaele Agati; Antonio Fioravanti; Maurizio Mascarin; Lorenzo Volpin; Franco Ammannati; Barbara Masotto; Marina Paola Gardiman; Dario De Biase; Giovanni Tallini; Girolamo Crisi; Stefania Bartolini; Enrico Franceschi

doi:10.1016/j.critrevonc.2014.12.016

New perspectives in the treatment of adult medulloblastoma in the era of molecular oncology

Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2015 Jun;94(3):348-59. doi: 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2014.12.016. Epub 2014 Dec 31.

Authors

Alba A Brandes¹, Marco Bartolotti², Gianluca Marucci³, Claudio Ghimenton⁴, Raffaele Agati⁵, Antonio Fioravanti⁶, Maurizio Mascarin⁷, Lorenzo Volpin⁸, Franco Ammannati⁹, Barbara Masotto¹⁰, Marina Paola Gardiman¹¹, Dario De Biase¹², Giovanni Tallini¹², Girolamo Crisi¹³, Stefania Bartolini², Enrico Franceschi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Oncology, Bellaria-Maggiore Hospitals, Azienda USL - IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: alba.brandes@yahoo.it.
² Department of Medical Oncology, Bellaria-Maggiore Hospitals, Azienda USL - IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Bologna, Italy.
³ Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences (DiBiNeM), University, of Bologna, Section of Pathology, M. Malpighi, Bellaria Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
⁴ Pathology Department, Verona Hospital, Verona, Italy.
⁵ Department of Neuroradiology, Bellaria-Maggiore Hospitals, Azienda USL - IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Bologna, Italy.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, Bellaria Hospital - IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Azienda USL, Bologna, Italy.
⁷ Department of Radiotherapy Unit, CRO, Aviano, Italy.
⁸ Department of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, San Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery I, Careggi University Hospital, Firenze, Italy.
¹⁰ Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Neuroscience, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
¹¹ Surgical Pathology & Cytopathology Unit, Department of Medicine (DIMED), University Hospital, Padova, Italy.
¹² Department of Medicine (DIMES) - Anatomic Pathology Unit, Bellaria Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
¹³ Department of Neuroradiology, Parma University Hospital, Parma, Italy.

PMID: 25600839
DOI: 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2014.12.016

Abstract

Medulloblastoma is the most common central nervous system tumor in children, while it is extremely rare in adults. Multimodal treatment involving surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can improve the prognosis of this disease, and recent advances in molecular biology have allowed the identification of molecular subgroups (WNT, SHH, Groups 3 and 4), each of which have different cytogenetic, mutational and gene expression signatures, demographics, histology and prognosis. The present review focuses on the state of the art for adult medulloblastoma treatment and on novel molecular advances and their future implications in the treatment of this disease.

Keywords: Adults; Medulloblastoma; SHH; Treatment; WNT.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Adult
Age Factors
Cerebellar Neoplasms / diagnosis
Cerebellar Neoplasms / etiology
Cerebellar Neoplasms / therapy*
Combined Modality Therapy
Diagnostic Imaging
Epigenesis, Genetic
Genetic Variation
Humans
Medulloblastoma / diagnosis
Medulloblastoma / etiology
Medulloblastoma / therapy*
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
Neoplasm Staging
Signal Transduction
Treatment Outcome