RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) and medulloblastoma (MB) are the most malignant primary brain tumors in early childhood. AT/RT is frequently misdiagnosed as primitive neuroectodermal tumor/medulloblastoma. The biological features and clinical outcomes of AT/RT and MB are extremely different. In this study, we used microarray as a platform to distinguish these two tumors with the definitive diagnostic marker as well as the profiling of expression genes. METHODS: In order to clarify the pathogenesis and find the biological markers for AT/RT, we established a derivative AT/RT primary cell culture. The differential profiling between AT/RT and MB were analyzed by using microarray method. RESULTS: With the use of the microarray method, we demonstrated that 15 genes were significantly changed (at least 5-fold in upregulation and 1/5-fold in downregulation) between AT/RT and MB in tissues and cell lines. The quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses further confirmed that mRNA expression levels of SERPINI1 and osteopontin were highly expressed in AT/RT cells and tissues than those in MB. Importantly, our microarray result suggested that AT/RT presents the stemness-like pattern and expression profiling of embryonic stem cells as well as high mRNA expressions of Oct-4, Nanog, Sox-2, and c-Myc. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated the differential gene expression profiling between AT/RT and MB. Based on the microarray findings, AT/RTs present embryonic stem-like gene recapitulation and further provide novel insights into their underlying biology.
