Abstract
RNF213 gene, initially identified as a disease-causing gene for moyamoya cerebrovascular disease, has recently been recognized as a tumor regulator. The gene is known to be associated with WNT signaling, lipid metabolism, angiogenesis and genomic instability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of RNF213 in tumorgenicity of medulloblastoma. Incidence of medulloblastoma and histopathological findings were compared among ptch1+/-, ptch1+/- rnf213+/-, and ptch1+/- rnf213-/- mice. Knockout of rnf213 in ptch1+/- transgenic mouse model increased the incidence of spontaneous generation of medulloblastoma from 19.8% (ptch1+/-) to 76.5% (rnf213+/- ptch1+/-) at 9 months (p < 0.001). Heterozygous knockout was equivalent to homozygous knockout. Haploinsufficiency of rnf213 seems to be associated with tumorgenicity in medulloblastoma. Molecular mechanism of medulloblastoma generation needs to be further investigated.