Cell Ecosystem and Signaling Pathways of Primary and Metastatic Pediatric Posterior Fossa Ependymoma

Ependymomas constitute nearly one third of the central nervous system neoplasms among children aged < 3 years1. The disease remains a significant therapeutic challenge, with a 5-year overall survival rate < 55 % among this age group2 and no available chemotherapy of proven efficacy. The breadth of therapies is constrained by the current limited knowledge about the mechanisms of ependymoma progression. At the present time, no recurrent mutation has been identified in posterior fossa tumors3,4, which constitute 80 % of childhood ependymomas. This project will perform massively parallel single-nuclei transcriptomic profiling, immunofluorescence, and in situ hybridization studies of primary and metastatic ependymomas, and will use this information in combination with existing bulk transcriptomic data to infer the cell composition and tumorigenic pathways of ependymal tumors.