β-catenin activation drives thymoma initiation and progression in mice.

ABSTRACT: Thymoma is the most commonly identified cancer in the anterior mediastinum. To date, the causal mechanism that drives thymoma progression is not clear. Here, we generated K5-∆N64Ctnnb1/ERT2 transgenic mice, which express an N-terminal deletion mutant of β-catenin fused to a mutated ligand-binding domain of estrogen receptor (ERT2) under the control of the bovine cytokeratin 5 (K5) promoter. The transgenic mouse lines named Tg1 and Tg4 were characterized. Forced expression of ∆N64Ctnnb1/ERT2 in the Tg1 and Tg4 mice developed small thymoma lesions in response to tamoxifen treatment. In the absence of tamoxifen, the Tg1 mice exhibited leaky activation of β-catenin, which activated the TOP-Gal transgene and Wnt/β-catenin-targeted genes. As the Tg1 mice aged in the absence of tamoxifen, man

SUBMITTER: Liang CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4546445 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature