High incidence of mammary tumors in mice with inherited asplenia carriers for the nude gene.
A colony of mice suffering from dominant hemimelia associated with agenesis of the spleen has been developed and characterized during the past 7 years. The hereditarily asplenic (Dh/+) mice have a very low incidence (9%) of spontaneous mammary tumors (SMT). Asplenic (Dh/+) females were mated with mice homozygous (nu/nu) for hereditary athymia (nude) having a BALB/c background. BALB/c females heterozygous for the nu gene and with spleen (nu/+,+/+) have a moderate incidence (12%) of SMT, whereas nu/+,Dh/+ breeders have a drastic increase in the incidence of SMT to 46% when bred under identical conditions. Since all parent strains have a very low incidence of SMT, it appears that the spleen agenesis is a major factor accounting for an earlier and higher incidence of SMT in hereditarily asplenic (nu/+,Dh/+) mice than in normal (nu/+,+/+) siblings. The SMT express mammary tumor virus antigen(s) and possess estrogen, progesterone, and glucocorticoid receptors. The SMT rapidly metastasize and kill the host within 30 to 45 days. The BALB/c asplenic mice with SMT represent a unique model relevant to human breast cancer and for study of the function of the spleen in the development of solid tumors in general and of SMT in particular.
D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D005260:Female; D005796:Genes; D006579:Heterozygote; D008297:Male; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008324:Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude / Q000235:genetics*; D011987:Receptors, Steroid; D013154:Spleen / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000502:physiology*
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D011987:Receptors, Steroid