Signal transduction in mammary tumorigenesis: a transgenic perspective.
A number of genes have been implicated in breast cancer development, yet few have been demonstrated to play causative roles in mammary tumor formation. The advent of transgenic mouse and embryonic stem cell technologies now permits manipulation of the mouse genome in such a way as to temporally and spatially control a gene product's expression. Thus, the basic researcher now can directly assess the involvement of particular genes in tumorigenesis and disease progression and, in the process, to develop mouse models of human genetic disease. The utility of such technologies is emphasized in transgenic mice expressing genes thought to play important roles in the initiation and progression of mammary carcinomas. As these transgenic strains have been the subject of several reviews, here we focus on two mouse mammary tumor models, Polyomavirus middle T antigen and the Neu/ErbB-2 receptor tyrosine kinase, which are most amenable to study specific signaling pathways in process of mammary tumorigenesis.
Dankort
D L
DL
Department of Biology, Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4K1.
Muller
W J
WJ
D000818:Animals; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019061:src-Family Kinases / Q000378:metabolism
D066246:ErbB Receptors; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D018631:ras Proteins; D019061:src-Family Kinases