Expression data comparing transformed or neoplastic human neural precursors following OTX2 knockdown to transformed human neural precursor cells

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary pediatric brain tumor and is currently divided into 4 subtypes based on different genomic alterations, gene expression profiles and response to treatment: WNT, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Group 3 and Group 4. The extensive heterogeneity has made it difficult to assess the relevance of genes to malignant progression. For example, expression of the transcription factor, OTX2, is frequently dysregulated in multiple MB variants; however, it's role may be subtype specific. Here, we utilized human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors to determine the role of OTX2 in MB tumor progression using gain and loss of function studies. We used global gene expression profiling to determine what transcripts and pathways were differentially expressed following knockdown of OTX2 in transformed or neoplastic human embryonic neural precursor cells. OTX2 was knocked down in transformed human embyronic neural precursors (trans-hEN) using Silencer select siRNAs. trans-hEN OTX2 KD and scrambled control trans-hENs were then grown as neurospheres in defined medium and collected at passage 1. RNA was extracted using the Norgen All-in-One kit.