title: Expression patterns of the slit subfamily mRNA in canine malignant mammary tumors.
abstract: Slit, a secreted protein, functions as a chemorepellent factor in axon guidance and neuronal migration and as an inhibitor in leukocyte chemotaxis. In humans, slit2 protein attracts endothelial cells and promotes tube formation in the tumor angiogenic mechanism. In this study, we cloned a part of the canine slit subfamily and examined the expression of slit subfamily mRNAs in 3 normal canine mammary glands and 11 mammary tumor samples by RT-PCR. The cloned part of the slit gene sequences showed high similarity to those of the human, mouse, and rat. The mRNAs were expressed at low levels in the normal mammary gland. The expression levels of slit1 mRNA were low in both the normal and tumor tissues. In contrast, the expression of slit2 mRNA increased in most of the malignant mammary tumors, and an increase in slit3 mRNA expression was observed in 2 of the malignant mixed tumors. These results suggest that the expression of slit2 plays an important role in tumor angiogenesis in canine mammary gland tumors and that slit2 can be a putative marker for malignancy diagnosis of these tumors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Department of Veterinary Science, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanno
authors.forename: Yuchie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akiyoshi
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takenaka
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuwamura
authors.forename: Jyoji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamate
authors.forename: Fumihito
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Kihei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuyama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004285:Dogs; D015870:Gene Expression; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015674:Mammary Neoplasms, Animal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D006023:Glycoproteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C120566:slit protein, vertebrate