Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems have gained increasing interest in drug discovery and tissue engineering due to their evident advantages in providing more relevant information and more predictive data for in vivo tests. Willing to increase the knowledge about Medulloblastoma Brain tumor we are developing Human cerebellar organoids derived from human iPSC: three-dimensional cultures that include multiple stem cell types, cell organization and features of human cerebellum. Notably, Medulloblastoma is the most common brain tumor affecting infants and stands as a cause for a high percentage of morbidity and mortality among cancer patients. To identify new Medulloblastoma driver genes we set up an innovative way to modify human cerebellar organoid, developing the first in-vitro 3D model of Medulloblastoma. We are mimicking human pathological conditions modifying this organoids with different putative oncogenes. Notably thanks to this type of model, we are able to study the functions of new Medulloblastoma driver genes in modulating stem cells differentiation and commitment in a three-dimensional structure, during the development of the organoid and the tumor. We speculate that our new Medulloblastoma 3D culture systems hold great promise for applications in infant tumor research, cancer cell biology and drug discovery, being the first human 3D in-vitro model that resembles human pathological conditions.