TOP2A correlates with poor prognosis and affects radioresistance of medulloblastoma

Radiotherapy remains the standard treatment for medulloblastoma (MB), and the radioresistance contributes to tumor recurrence and poor clinical outcomes. Nuclear DNA topoisomerase II-alpha (TOP2A) is a key catalytic enzyme that initiates DNA replication, and studies have shown that TOP2A is closely related to the therapeutic effects of radiation. In this study, we found that TOP2A was significantly upregulated in MB, and high expression of TOP2A related to poor prognosis of MB patients. Knockdown of TOP2A inhibited MB cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, whereas overexpression of TOP2A enhanced the proliferative and invasive ability of MB cells. Moreover, si-TOP2A transfection in combination with irradiation (IR) significantly reduced the tumorigenicity of MB cells, compared with those transfected with si-TOP2A alone. Cell survival curve analysis revealed that the survival fraction of MB cells was significantly reduced upon TOP2A downregulation and that si-TOP2A-transfected cells had decreased D(0), Dq, and SF(2) values, indicating that TOP2A knockdown suppresses the resistance to radiotherapy in MB cells. In addition, western blot analysis demonstrated that the activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was inhibited after TOP2A downregulation alone or in combination with IR treatment, whereas overexpression of TOP2A exhibited the opposite effects. Gene set enrichment analysis also revealed that Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is enriched in TOP2A high-expression phenotypes. Collectively, these data indicate that high expression of TOP2A leads to poor prognosis of MB, and downregulation of TOP2A inhibits the malignant behaviour as well as the radioresistance of MB cells. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway may be involved in the molecular mechanisms of TOP2A mediated reduced tumorigenicity and radioresistance of MB cells.