Khan S. Hekmatyar1, Martin Wilson2,
Neil Jerome3, Julian L. Griffin4, Andrew Peet2,
Risto A. Kauppinen1
1Radiology, Dartmouth Medical School,
Hanover, NH, United States; 2University of Birmingham, United
Kingdom; 3Dartmouth Medical School, United States; 4Biochemistry,
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Aberrant
hedgehog signaling is implicated in generation of human medulloblastomas. We
have used smoothened receptor (SMO) transgenic mice with high incidence of
spontaneous medulloblastomas to characterize 1H MRS metabolic profiles in
tumours with known molecular pathology. Medulloblastomas in the SMO mice
showed very low NAA, low GABA and myo-inositol and high taurine, total
cholines, scyllo-inositol and glycine. It appears that taurine, cholines and
scyllo-inositol are potential common MRS biomarkers for medulloblastomas,
whereas myo-inositol, GABA and glycine may be more associated with aberrant
SMO signaling in medulloblastomas.