Cryptic developmental events determine medulloblastoma radiosensitivity and cellular heterogeneity without altering transcriptomic profile.

ABSTRACT

It is unclear why medulloblastoma patients receiving similar treatments experience different outcomes. Transcriptomic profiling identified subgroups with different prognoses, but in each subgroup, individuals remain at risk of incurable recurrence. To investigate why similar-appearing tumors produce variable outcomes, we analyzed medulloblastomas triggered in transgenic mice by a common driver mutation expressed at different points in brain development. We genetically engineered mice to express oncogenic SmoM2, starting in multipotent glio-neuronal stem cells, or committed neural progenitors. Both groups developed medulloblastomas with similar transcriptomic profiles. We compared medulloblastoma progression, radiosensitivity, and cellular heterogeneity, determined by single-cell transcriptomic analysis (scRNA-seq). Stem cell-triggered medulloblastomas progressed faster, contained more OLIG2-expressing stem-like cells, and consistently showed radioresistance. In contrast, progenitor-triggered MBs progressed slower, down-regulated stem-like cells and were curable with radiation. Progenitor-triggered medulloblastomas also contained more diverse stromal populations, with more Ccr2+ macrophages and fewer Igf1+ microglia, indicating that developmental events affected the subsequent tumor microenvironment. Reduced mTORC1 activity in M-Smo tumors suggests that differential Igf1 contributed to differences in phenotype. Developmental events in tumorigenesis that were obscure in transcriptomic profiles thus remained cryptic determinants of tumor composition and outcome. Precise understanding of medulloblastoma pathogenesis and prognosis requires supplementing transcriptomic/methylomic studies with analyses that resolve cellular heterogeneity.