c-MYC overexpression induces choroid plexus papillomas through a T-cell mediated inflammatory mechanism

Ashirwad Merve,
Xinyu Zhang†,
Nicola Pomella†,
Serena Acquati†,
Joerg D. Hoeck†,
Anaelle Dumas,
Gabriel Rosser,
Yichen Li,
Jennie Jeyapalan,
Silvia Vicenzi,
Qianhai Fan,
Zeng Jie Yang,
Arianna Sabò,
Denise Sheer,
Axel Behrens and
Silvia MarinoEmail author View ORCID ID profile

†Contributed equally

Acta Neuropathologica Communications20197:2

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-019-0739-x

Received: 27 April 2019
Accepted: 14 May 2019
Published: 29 May 2019

Abstract

Choroid plexus tumours (CPTs) account for 2–5% of brain tumours in children. They can spread along the neuraxis and can recur after treatment. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying their formation and only few high fidelity mouse models of p53-deficient malignant CPTs are available.

We show here that c-MYC overexpression in the choroid plexus epithelium induces T-cell inflammation-dependent choroid plexus papillomas in a mouse model. We demonstrate that c-MYC is expressed in a substantial proportion of human choroid plexus tumours and that this subgroup of tumours is characterised by an inflammatory transcriptome and significant inflammatory infiltrates. In compound mutant mice, overexpression of c-MYC in an immunodeficient background led to a decreased incidence of CPP and reduced tumour bulk. Finally, reduced tumour size was also observed upon T-cell depletion in CPP-bearing mice. Our data raise the possibility that benign choroid plexus tumours expressing c-MYC could be amenable to medical therapy with anti-inflammatory drugs.