Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
Although
PSEN1
is best known for its role in Alzheimer's disease, it also regulates neural development and cerebellar morphogenesis. Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour and arises from disrupted cerebellar developmental programmes. The clinical significance of
PSEN1
in MB remains unknown. We investigated the prognostic value and transcriptional correlates of
PSEN1
expression across molecular subgroups and subtypes of MB.
Methods
Public bulk and single‐cell transcriptomic datasets were used to examine
PSEN1
expression, associations with overall survival (OS) and transcriptional correlates in MB. The SHH α‐associated transcriptional pattern was evaluated in an independent cohort, and
PSEN1
expression was further examined in the developing human cerebellum and across paediatric brain tumour types. Genes strongly correlated with
PSEN1
in SHH α MB were subjected to gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis.
Results
High
PSEN1
expression was consistently associated with significantly longer OS exclusively in SHH α MB. The
PSEN1
‐associated transcriptional pattern was reproduced in an independent SHH α cohort.
PSEN1
was expressed across developing cerebellar cell populations and paediatric brain tumour types, with MB showing intermediate expression among the tumour entities examined. In SHH α MB,
PSEN1
was associated with a coordinated transcriptional programme enriched for RNA homeostasis, intracellular membrane trafficking, protein quality control, lipid and calcium signalling and developmental pathways.
Conclusions
High
PSEN1
expression identifies a favourable‐prognosis subset of SHH α MB and is associated with a distinct transcriptional programme related to endomembrane organization and cellular homeostasis rather than canonical SHH signalling. These findings suggest that
PSEN1
may mark a developmentally distinct tumour state and generate new hypotheses regarding subtype‐specific developmental programmes in MB.