Vascular CD44 Expression and Breast Cancer Angiogenesis and Metastasis
Abstract
The breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, is thought to function during cellular proliferation, differentiation and DNA repair. Several lines of evidence suggest that BRCA2 may play a vital role in these processes particularly in the human thymus. 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 break and repair compared to other tissues. Second, mice carrying a truncating mutation in the 5' region of BRCA2 exon Ii often develop thymic lymphomas. These lymphomas may be the result of defects in DNA repair in thymocytes similar to the DNA repair defects found in embryonic fibroblasts from these mice. Finally, BRCA2 binds to RAD51, the eukaryotic RecA homologue involved in double stranded DNA repair. Taken together, this evidence suggests that BRCA2 may be an important mediator of thymic proliferation, differentiation or DNA repair within the thymus. In this study, BRCA2 was differentially expressed in thymocyte subsets with different rates of DNA repair, proliferation and differentiation. BRCA2 RNA was also found to increase in thymocytes with induced DNA breaks and in stimulated, proliferating cells. Further studies in the human thymus are needed to differentiate the role of BRCA2 in thymic processes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADB267101
Entities
People
- Kristina G. Flores
- Laura P Hale
Organizations
- Duke University Hospital