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Updated: Sep 19, 2025
Isolation, Enrichment, and Maintenance of Medulloblastoma Stem Cells
Published on: September 1, 2010
Lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 (LEF1): a reliable immunohistochemical predictive marker for WNT-activated
Manali Ranade1, Sridhar Epari2, Mamta Gurav1
1Department of Pathology (Including Molecular Pathology Division), Tata Memorial Hospital & ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Aim:
To evaluate lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 (LEF1) as an immunohistochemical marker for WNT-activated medulloblastoma (WNT-MB).
Materials And Methods:
Medulloblastomas (MB) diagnosed between January 2022 and April 2024, that were molecularly grouped by gene expression profiling and in which LEF1 immunohistochemistry was available formed the study cohort.
Results:
A of total 151 cases, comprising 40 (26.49%) WNT-activated, 45 (29.80%) SHH-activated, and 66 (43.71%) non-WNT/non-SHH (group 3: 21, group 4: 34, and NOS, i.e. overlapping between group 3 and group 4: 11) formed the study cohort. Age- range was 1-41 years (median: 9 years; interquartile- range: 5-17 years), 118 (78.15%) patients were ≤ 18 years of age, and 33 (21.85%) patients had > 18 years age. LEF1 immunostaining was diffuse (≥ 50% tumour cells) in 32 cases, focal (1-49% tumour cells) in 11 cases, and negative in 108 cases. Diffuse LEF1 staining was observed only in WNT-MB. Focal LEF1 staining was observed in 20% (8/40) of WNT-MB and 6.67% (3/45) of SHH-activated MBs. All 66 non-WNT/non-SHH MB were negative for LEF1. Diffuse (> 50%) LEF1 immunostaining had 100% positive predictive value, 100% specificity and 80% sensitivity for detecting WNT-MB.
Conclusion:
Diffuse LEF1 immunostaining is a reliable and faster method for identifying WNT-activated molecular group of MB.
