Use of MMTV-Wnt-1 transgenic mice for studying the genetic basis of breast cancer.
Wnt-1 was first identified as a protooncogene activated by viral insertion in mouse mammary tumors. Transgenic expression of this gene using a mouse mammary tumor virus LTR enhancer causes extensive ductal hyperplasia early in life and mammary adenocarcinomas in approximately 50% of the female transgenic (TG) mice by 6 months of age. Metastasis to the lung and proximal lymph nodes is rare at the time tumors are detected but frequent after the removal of the primary neoplasm. The potent mitogenic effect mediated by Wnt-1 expression does not require estrogen stimulation; tumors form after an increased latency in estrogen receptor alpha-null mice. Several genetic lesions, including inactivation of p53 and over-expression of Fgf-3, collaborate with Wnt-1 in leading to mammary tumors, but loss of Sky and inactivation of one allele of Rb do not affect the rate of tumor formation in Wnt-1 TG mice.
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Division of Basic Science, National Cancer Institute, 49 Convent Drive, Building 49, Room 4A56, Bethesda, Maryland, MD 20892, USA.
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Varmus
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D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D006965:Hyperplasia / Q000235:genetics; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D008324:Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins
D006728:Hormones; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C495246:Wnt1 protein, mouse; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins