Functional Study of Maspin in Breast Cancer
Abstract
The object of this proposal is to understand the tumor suppressor function of maspin, a novel serine protease inhibitor, and to test directly maspin as a therapeutic agent for breast cancer. Transgenic and knockout mouse models will be employed to study the effects of gain and loss of maspin function on mouse mammary tumorigenesis and development. We hypothesize that overexpression of maspin should be protective against mammary tumorigenesis and metastasis, while loss of maspin will render mice more susceptible to tumor formation and metastasis. The proposal is based upon our previous experiments, primarily performed in conventional cell culture models, demonstrating that maspin has tumor suppressor activity. Recently, we have established transgenic mice overexpressing maspin in the mammary gland, and generated maspin knockout mice. We have crossed maspin transgenic mice with a breast tumor WAP-Tag strain. Our data suggest that maspin functions directly as a metastasis inhibitor. We have also shown in this report the mechanism by which maspin inhibits normal mammary development during pregnancy in WAP-maspin transgenic mice, and we are testing maspin against tumor progression in mice. Continuation of these tasks in the next few years will help us understand the role of maspin in tumor metastasis and angiogenesis, and hopefully leading to the development of new therapies for the treatment of breast cancer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA381036
Entities
People
- Ming Zhang
Organizations
- Baylor College of Medicine