Investigating the Role of Cooperative Interactions Between the Neu Protooncogene and the Other erbB Family Members in Rat Mammary Carcinogenesis
Abstract
The phenotype of two additional MMTV-neu N transgenic rats has been determined. Females of both of these lines do not display an abnormal phenotype. In contrast, males of line 6500 develop mammary carcinomas with an average latency of 387 days. This phenotype is highly penetrant, with 77.8% and 100% of the transgenic males carcinoma positive at 14 months and 18 months of age, respectively. Among those rats with carcinomas, the average number of carcinomas/rat was 9.6 and 11.7 for 14 months and 18 months, respectively. Nuclease protection assays have shown that 6500 transgenic females overexpress neu within the mammary gland by approximately 10 fold. This demonstrates that the lack of mammary carcinomas in the 6500 females is not due to a lack of neu overexpression in the mammary gland. Experiments are in progress to investigate the mechanisms underlying the male-specific mammary carcinogenesis in line 6500. In additional experiments, retro viral vectors were used to direct expression of EGFR, erbB3, or erbB4 in the mammary gland of 6500 transgenic and non-transgenic females. None of these retro viral constructs resulted in mammary carcinomas for transgenic or non-transgenic females.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA381235
Entities
People
- Michael N. Gould
- Philip Watson
Organizations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison