Histone deacetylases 5 and 9 are novel markers for medulloblastoma risk stratification and potential drug targets for therapy

Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in childhood and 5-year survival rates of large-cell/anaplastic medulloblastoma or metastasized disease are as low as 30–40%. Furthermore, surviving children suffer from high morbidity due to therapy-related side effects. Thus, therapies targeting tumors in a specific manner, as opposed to the current surgery/irradiation/chemotherapy protocols, are urgently warranted. This study investigated the possible roles of human histone deacetylase (HDAC) family members in medulloblastoma tumor growth and as potential new drug targets for therapy. We used gene ex…