Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common primary malignant brain tumor of childhood and a significant contributor to pediatric morbidity and death. While metastatic dissemination is the predominant cause of morbidity and mortality for patients with this disease, most research efforts and clinical trials to date have focused on the primary tumor; this is due mostly to the paucity of metastatic tumor samples and lack of robust mouse models of MB dissemination. Most current insights into the molecular drivers of metastasis have been derived from comparative molecular studies of metastatic and non-metastatic primary tumors. However, small studies on matched primary and metastatic tissues and recently developed mouse models of dissemination have begun to uncover the molecular biology of MB metastasis more directly. With respect to anatomical routes of dissemination, a hematogenous route for MB metastasis has recently been demonstrated, opening new avenues of investigation. The tumor micro-environment of the primary and metastatic niches has also been increasingly scrutinized in recent years, and further investigation of these tumor compartments is likely to result in a better understanding of the molecular mediators of MB colonization and growth in metastatic compartments.

中文翻译：

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髓母细胞瘤转移的分子生物学。

髓母细胞瘤 (MB) 是儿童期最常见的原发性恶性脑肿瘤，是导致儿科发病和死亡的重要因素。虽然转移性传播是这种疾病患者发病率和死亡率的主要原因，但迄今为止大多数研究工作和临床试验都集中在原发肿瘤上。这主要是由于缺乏转移性肿瘤样本和缺乏稳健的 MB 传播小鼠模型。目前对转移分子驱动因素的大多数见解来自转移性和非转移性原发肿瘤的比较分子研究。然而，对匹配的原发和转移组织的小型研究以及最近开发的小鼠传播模型已经开始更直接地揭示 MB 转移的分子生物学。关于传播的解剖学途径，最近证明了 MB 转移的血行途径，开辟了新的研究途径。近年来，原发灶和转移灶的肿瘤微环境也越来越受到关注，对这些肿瘤隔室的进一步研究可能会导致更好地了解 MB 在转移隔室中定植和生长的分子介质。