Project description:
Supratentorial ependymomas are aggressive brain tumors with few effective therapies available. This study provides the first comprehensive map of tumor cell diversity across all molecular subgroups of these cancers. Using single-cell and spatial transcriptomics combined with live-cell imaging, distinct developmental cell states that mirror early stages of human brain development were identified. Critically, the scientists found that brain-resident cells reshape tumor composition, pushing cancer cells toward neural identities. Further, neuronal-like tumor cells are able to hijack the migratory mechanisms of immature neurons to spread through the brain. Together, the findings establish a multidimensional framework linking tumor identity, spatial organization, and dynamic behavior, laying a foundation for novel, targeted therapies for these devastating childhood cancers.
Publication:
Daeun Jeong, Sara G. Danielli, Kendra K. Maaß, ..., Varun Venkataramani & Mariella G. Filbin. Multidimensional profiling of heterogeneity in supratentorial ependymomas. Nature. March 2026.
Submitting the Paper of the Month:
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung is using the series “Paper of the Month” to report in an exemplary and hot-off-the-press style on the outstanding work being done by the scientists it supports. We regularly present publications which have recently appeared in especially renowned journals, have emerged from foundation funding and been given appropriate acknowledgment. This is done in the respective categories “Original Paper” and “Review”. In the case of each of these publications, the first author and/or senior author are being funded by the foundation.
We invite all project managers, fellowship recipients and members of graduate study programs to send their work in accordance with the stated criteria as proposal for Paper of the Month to Ms. Anne Asschenfeldt (a.asschenfeldt@ekfs.de).
More Paper of the Month can be found here.
