Comprehensive Molecular Profiling Identifies FOXM1 as a Key Transcription Factor for Meningioma Proliferation

Summary: Meningioma is the most common primary intracranial tumor, but the molecular drivers of aggressive meningioma are incompletely understood. Using 280 human meningioma samples and RNA sequencing, immunohistochemistry, whole-exome sequencing, DNA methylation arrays, and targeted gene expression profiling, we comprehensively define the molecular profile of aggressive meningioma. Transcriptomic analyses identify FOXM1 as a key transcription factor for meningioma proliferation and a marker of poor clinical outcomes. Consistently, we discover genomic and epigenomic factors associated with FOXM1 activation in aggressive meningiomas. Finally, we define a FOXM1/Wnt signaling axis in meningioma that is associated with a mitotic gene expression program, poor clinical outcomes, and proliferation of primary meningioma cells. In summary, we find that multiple molecular mechanisms converge on a FOXM1/Wnt signaling axis in aggressive meningioma. : Using multiplatform molecular profiling, Vasudevan et al. comprehensively define the molecular profile of aggressive meningioma. They identify genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic mechanisms that converge on a FOXM1/Wnt signaling axis in aggressive meningioma that is associated with meningioma cell proliferation and is a marker of poor clinical outcomes across molecular subgroups. Keywords: DNA methylation, epigenome, FOXM1, genome, meningioma, NF2, RNA sequencing, transcriptome, whole-exome sequencing, Wnt