HGG-21. AN OMICS APPROACH TO ELUCIDATING THE MECHANISM OF ETV5 IN PEDIATRIC GLIOMA

Gliomas are the most common CNS tumors in pediatric patients. Tumorigenesis for these young patients occur at a key neurodevelopmental window and it is believed that developmental and differentiation pathways are exploited during the transformation of CNS cells. We have shown that Etv5 is necessary for tumor initiation and regulates the unhinged gliogenesis observed in our novel mouse model of pediatric high-grade glioma (HGG). While the role of oncogenic ETV5 in various cancers is well-established, its role in HGGs has yet to be determined. We are currently pursuing an omics approach to identifying the post-translational mechanisms regulating ETV5 function and stability in HGG. Additionally, we have developed a single-copy expression system to perform genomic analysis and identify downstream targets of ETV5 in transformed human pediatric glioma. We provide evidence that ETV5 may be involved in inducing a glial cell-fate in tumor cells which is believed to be a necessary cell type in these devastating tumors.