Project description:Breast Cancer (BC) has been associated with alterations in signaling through a number of growth factor and hormone regulated pathways. Mouse models for metastatic BC have been developed using oncoproteins that activate PI3K, Stat3 and Ras signaling. To determine the role of each pathway, we analyzed mouse mammary tumor formation when they were activated singly or pairwise. We used microarrays to detect differentially expressed genes in the KRas(G12D/+);CreT and R26(H1047R/+);KRas(G12D/+);CreT tumors Total RNA was extracted from tumors developed by Qiagen RNAeasy kit and hybridized on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:Breast Cancer (BC) has been associated with alterations in signaling through a number of growth factor and hormone regulated pathways. Mouse models for metastatic BC have been developed using oncoproteins that activate PI3K, Stat3 and Ras signaling. To determine the role of each pathway, we analyzed mouse mammary tumor formation when they were activated singly or pairwise. We used microarrays to detect differentially expressed genes in the KRas(G12D/+);CreT and R26(H1047R/+);KRas(G12D/+);CreT tumors
Project description:Copy number gains in genes coding for Rho activating exchange factors as well as losses affecting genes coding for RhoGAP proteins are common in breast cancer, suggesting that elevated Rho signaling may play an important role. Extra copies and overexpression of RhoC also occur, although a role for RhoC overexpression in driving tumor formation has not been assessed in vivo. To this end, we report on the development of a Rosa26 (R26)-targeted Cre-conditional RhoC overexpression mouse (R26-RhoC). This mouse was crossed to two models for ERBB2/NEU+ breast cancer: one based on expression of an oncogenic ErbB2/Neu cDNA downstream of the endogenous ErbB2 promoter (FloxNeoNeuNT), the other, a metastatic model that is based on high-level expression from MMTV regulatory elements (NIC). RhoC overexpression dramatically enhanced mammary tumor formation in FloxNeoNeuNT mice but showed a more subtle effect in the NIC line, which forms multiple mammary tumors after a very short latency. Many mammary tumors that form in FloxNeoNeuNT mice show selection for increased NeuNT expression linked to high-level amplification of the ErbB2/NeuNT locus. In contrast, NeuNT overexpression did not require high-level amplification of ErbB2/NeuNT in RhoC-FloxNeoNeuNT lesions. RhoC overexpression also enhanced mammary tumor formation in a model for breast cancer induced by Pik3ca(H1047R). The transforming effect of RhoC was associated with epithelial/mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ErbB2/NeuNT and Pik3ca-H1047R systems. Thus, RhoC copy number gains with resultant overexpression contribute to breast tumor formation and/or progression.
Project description:The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Thyroid Hormone Responsive Protein Spot14 (Spot14) overexpression on the gene expression profiles of tumors from MMTV-Neu mice. Hemizygous MMTV-Neu and MMTV-Spot14 mice were bred and 1 cm tumors from Neu control or Neu/Spot14 bitransgenic offspring were profiled using Affymetrix gene arrays. Tumors from Neu/Spot14 mice emerged significantly earlier than controls, but expressed many genes associated with lactogenic differentiation and were not highly metastatic. These results from the mouse model are consistent with observations from primary human breast tumors, which indicate that high Spot14 gene expression was directly correlated with a luminal subtype and a positive ER status. Overexpression of Spot14 in cultured mammary epithelial cells stimulated proliferation but not differentiation. Together, these data suggest that, in vivo, Spot14 is expressed in well-differentiated cells, and promotes the expansion of this population in the context of oncogenic signaling pathway activation. Microarray analysis was performed on 13 mammary tumors from MMTV-Neu mice and 9 tumors from MMTV-Neu/MMTV-Spot14 mice.
Project description:Murine models of mammary cancers have proven to be highly informative on numerous fronts including individual gene causation, microenvironmental analyses, and chemoprevention studies. The MMTV-Neu transgenic model of mammary cancer has proven to be a useful model and has been employed in several prevention studies. However, there are certain practical drawbacks to its use including long tumor latencies and a tendency to develop mutations in the transmembrane domain of Neu (unlike human HER2/Neu overexpressing breast cancers). Here we report modifications that were made in an attempt to optimize this mouse model for chemopreventive screening. First, homozygous MMTV-Neu and homozygous P53 KO mice were crossed to create a MMTV-Neu/P53+/- strain (which more closely approximates the genetic make-up of most HER2+ human patients). Second, to overcome the drawback of long tumor latencies, the mice were treated with DMBA for eight weeks. DMBA treatment greatly decreased the latency of mammary carcinomas in the MMTV-Neu mice although the resulting tumors remained histopathologically similar to those from MMTV-Neu control mice. Next, we examined gene expression in tumors derived from MMTV-Neu, MMTV-Neu/p53+/-, and DMBA treated mice. It was found that the characteristic MMTV-Neu tumor-defined expression pattern was still the most prevalent feature of all the MMTV-Neu tumors despite their being crossed to the p53 null allele, treated with DMBA, or both. However, tumors from the DMBA treated animals exhibited many unique gene expression changes including the high expression of stress response, defense, and inflammation genes. Finally, we demonstrated that the RXR agonists UAB30 and Targretin, both inhibited mammary cancer formation in MMTV-Neu mice, including those treated with DMBA. These results demonstrate the potential utility of this murine model for additional chemoprevention studies.
Project description:To identify early events of erbB2-induced mammary tumorigenesis, we compared datasets from 14 genechip experiments including MMTV-neu tumors, preneoplastic neu mammary gland (adjacent neu), and age-matched, wild-type control mammary glands
Project description:To identify genes that may facilitate early steps of ErbB2/Neu-mediated mammary tumorigenesis, we performed comparative microarray analysis of 5- and 10-week bitransgenic mammary glands (LHxMMTV-neu) in triplicate. Keywords: transgenic mouse, erbB2, MMTV-neu, HER2, mammary tumor, breast cancer