Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026
Isolation, Enrichment, and Maintenance of Medulloblastoma Stem Cells
Published on: September 1, 2010
PRAME gene expression profile in medulloblastoma
Tânia Maria Vulcani-Freitas1, Nasjla Saba-Silva, Andréa Cappellano
1Pediatric Oncology Institute, GRAACC, Federal University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Insights
This study found that PRAME is overexpressed in most childhood medulloblastoma tumors. This suggests PRAME is a promising target for developing new immunotherapies against this aggressive brain cancer.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Immunology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Medulloblastoma is the most frequent malignant central nervous system tumor in children.
- Current treatments for medulloblastoma are harsh, leading to poor patient outcomes.
- PRAME, a tumor antigen found in various cancers with limited normal tissue expression, presents a potential target for cancer immunotherapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the expression of PRAME in medulloblastoma samples.
- To correlate PRAME expression levels with clinical features and patient survival.
Main Methods:
- Gene expression analysis using real-time quantitative PCR on 37 medulloblastoma tumor samples.
- Statistical analysis including Mann-Whitney test and Kaplan-Meier survival curves.
Main Results:
- PRAME was found to be overexpressed in 84% of the analyzed medulloblastoma samples.
- No statistically significant association was observed between PRAME overexpression and patient clinical characteristics.
- Kaplan-Meier analysis did not reveal a correlation between PRAME expression and survival outcomes.
Conclusions:
- PRAME is highly expressed in medulloblastomas, supporting its potential as a target for cancer immunotherapy.
- Despite overexpression, PRAME's correlation with clinical features and survival in this cohort requires further investigation.
Abstract:
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant tumors of central nervous system in the childhood. The treatment is severe, harmful and, thus, has a dismal prognosis. As PRAME is present in various cancers, including meduloblastoma, and has limited expression in normal tissues, this antigen can be an ideal vaccine target for tumor immunotherapy. In order to find a potential molecular target, we investigated PRAME expression in medulloblastoma fragments and we compare the results with the clinical features of each patient. Analysis of gene expression was performed by real-time quantitative PCR from 37 tumor samples. The Mann-Whitney test was used to analysis the relationship between gene expression and clinical characteristics. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to evaluate survival. PRAME was overexpressed in 84% samples. But no statistical association was found between clinical features and PRAME overexpression. Despite that PRAME gene could be a strong candidate for immunotherapy since it is highly expressed in medulloblastomas.
Related Concept Videos
01:20The Retinoblastoma Gene
The first-ever tumor suppressor gene called Rb was identified in retinoblastoma - a rare eye tumor in children. In inherited forms of the disease, a child inherits one defective copy of the Rb gene, which predisposes them to retinoblastoma. However,...
01:20The Retinoblastoma Gene
The first-ever tumor suppressor gene called Rb was identified in retinoblastoma - a rare eye tumor in children. In inherited forms of the disease, a child inherits one defective copy of the Rb gene, which predisposes them to retinoblastoma. However,...
02:23Abnormal Proliferation