title: The Ret proto-oncogene in the WAG/Rij rat strain: an animal model for inherited C-cell carcinoma?
abstract: WAG/Rij rat strain has been suggested as an animal model for the study of inherited human medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), due to its high incidence of spontaneous C-cell thyroid tumours. Although the role of the Ret proto-oncogene mutations, as responsible for human MTC, is well established, nothing has been published concerning this putative animal model. Based upon the previously reported rat Ret sequence, exons 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, and 16, known to carry activating mutations in humans, have been analysed in the WAG/Rij rat by PCR, single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) and direct sequencing. Neither the germline nor MTC samples showed any Ret sequence difference in the exons when analysed in comparison to a non-MTC-susceptible rat strain. Our results indicate that Ret exons relevant in humans are not involved in WAG/Rij rat MTC, as expected, and this questions the validity of this strain as a model for the human disease, and suggests there must be additional mechanisms for the genesis and progression of rat MTC.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Citología e Histología Normal y Patológica, Facultad de Medicina, University of Seville, 41009 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Miguel
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fernández-Santos
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Trigo-Sánchez
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Matera
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ceccherini
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Galera-Davidson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000235:genetics*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D018095:Germ-Line Mutation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D051381:Rats; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C495001:Ret protein, rat