Vascular CD44 Expression and Breast Cancer Angiogenesis and Metastasis
Abstract
The breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, has been shown to play a role in cellular proliferation, differentiation and DNA repair. Several lines of evidence suggest that the double stranded DNA repair process that occurs normally in the thymus during T-cell receptor gene rearrangement may provide a good model for studying BRCA2 function. First, whereas BRCA2 is expressed at relatively low levels in most tissues, it is highly expressed in normal thymus, a tissue having elevated levels of proliferation, differentiation and DNA breakage and repair compared to other tissues. Second, mice carrying a truncating mutation in the 5' region of BRCA2 exon 11 often develop thymic lymphomas that may be the result of defects in DNA repair in the thymus. Furthermore, embryonic fibroblasts from these mice have an impaired ability to repair double stranded DNA breaks after X-irradiation. Finally, BRCA2 has been shown to bind to RAD51,the eukaryotic RecA homologue known to function in double stranded DNA repair. In this study, we have analyzed BRCA2 expression in thymocyte subsets and we have developed assays to test the ability of BRCA2 to function in double stranded DNA repair during gene rearrangement in cells with modified BRCA2 expression.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADB254502
Entities
People
- Kristina Flores
- Laura P Hale
Organizations
- Duke University Hospital