Intestinal microflora are necessary for development of spontaneous adenocarcinoma of the large intestine in T-cell receptor beta chain and p53 double-knockout mice.
This study was conducted to confirm the hypothesis that intestinal microflora are required for the development of adenocarcinoma in the colon of the TCRbeta and p53 double-knockout (TCRbeta-/- p53-/-) mouse. Germ-free TCRbeta-/- p53-/- mice were produced. At 7 weeks of age, the animals were divided into two groups (n = 10/group), and one of these groups was conventionalized. Animals of both groups were subjected to histopathological examination for adenocarcinoma of the colon at 4 months of age. There was no development of adenocarcinoma of the colon among the germ-free mice, whereas in the conventionalized group, adenocarcinomas of the ileocecum and cecum were detected in 70% of animals. These results indicate the usefulness of the TCRbeta-/- p53-/- mouse as a colon cancer animal model that develops spontaneous adenocarcinoma of the colon early in life, and suggest that intestinal microflora play a major role in the development of adenocarcinoma of the colon in this animal model.
Kado
S
S
Yakult Central Institute for Microbiological Research, Tokyo, Japan. shoichi-kado@yakult.co.jp
Uchida
K
K
Funabashi
H
H
Iwata
S
S
Nagata
Y
Y
Ando
M
M
Onoue
M
M
Matsuoka
Y
Y
Ohwaki
M
M
Morotomi
M
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D006965:Hyperplasia / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D007178:Inbreeding; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53