10.3389/fped.2018.00315.s008 Luana Abballe Luana Abballe Angela Mastronuzzi Angela Mastronuzzi Evelina Miele Evelina Miele Andrea Carai Andrea Carai Zein Mersini Besharat Zein Mersini Besharat Marta Moretti Marta Moretti Enrico De Smaele Enrico De Smaele Felice Giangaspero Felice Giangaspero Franco Locatelli Franco Locatelli Elisabetta Ferretti Elisabetta Ferretti Agnese Po Agnese Po Image_7_Numb Isoforms Deregulation in Medulloblastoma and Role of p66 Isoform in Cancer and Neural Stem Cells.jpg Frontiers 2018 medulloblastoma numb NUMB isoforms cancer stem cells neural stem cells sonic hedgehog signaling 2018-11-01 04:17:30 Figure https://frontiersin.figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_7_Numb_Isoforms_Deregulation_in_Medulloblastoma_and_Role_of_p66_Isoform_in_Cancer_and_Neural_Stem_Cells_jpg/7283963 <p>Numb is an intracellular protein with multiple functions. The two prevalent isoforms, Numb p66 and Numb p72, are regulators of differentiation and proliferation in neuronal development. Additionally, Numb functions as cell fate determinant of stem cells and cancer stem cells and its abnormal expression has been described in several types of cancer. Involvement of deregulated Numb expression has been described in the malignant childhood brain tumor medulloblastoma, while Numb isoforms in these tumors and in cancer stem-like cells derived from them, have not been studied to date. Here we show that medulloblastoma stem-like cells and cerebellar neuronal stem cells (NSCs) express Numb p66 where its expression tampers stemness features. Furthermore, medulloblastoma samples evaluated in this study express decreased levels of Numb p66 while overexpressed Numb p72 compared with normal tissues. Our results uncover different roles for the two major Numb isoforms examined in medulloblastoma and a critical role for Numb p66 in regulating stem-like cells and NSCs maintenance.</p>