title: Tumor-specific cooperation of retinoblastoma protein family and Snf5 inactivation.
abstract: Malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRT) are rare aggressive cancers that occur in young children. Seventy-five percent of sporadic MRTs harbor inactivating SNF5 mutations, and mice heterozygous for an Snf5-null allele develop MRTs with partial penetrance. The diagnosis of choroid plexus carcinomas (CPC) in addition to MRTs in families with a single mutant SNF5 allele prompted us to assess the role of SNF5 loss in CPC in genetically engineered mice. With high frequency, TgT(121) mice develop CPCs that are initiated by inactivation of retinoblastoma protein (pRb) and related proteins p107 and p130. However, CPC penetrance and latency were not significantly affected by Snf5 heterozygosity, consistent with recent evidence that CPCs in SNF5 families were, in many cases, misdiagnosed MRTs. Surprisingly, although the CPC phenotype was unaffected, TgT(121);Snf5(+/-) mice developed MRTs with increased penetrance and decreased latency compared with TgT(121);Snf5(+/+) littermates. MRTs expressed the T(121) protein with a concomitant increase in mitotic activity. The predominant appearance of TgT(121);Snf5(+/-) MRTs in the spinal cord led to the discovery that these tumors likely arose from a subset of spinal cord neural progenitor cells expressing T(121) rather than from transdifferentiation of CPC. Significantly, the target cell type(s) for MRT is unknown. Hence, this study not only shows that pRb(f) and SNF5 inactivation cooperate to induce MRTs but also provides new insight into the MRT target population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: Xiangdong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Godfrey
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: Charles W M
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Van Dyke
authors.forename: Bernard E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Weissman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016545:Choroid Plexus Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000235:genetics*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D020868:Gene Silencing; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016160:Retinoblastoma Protein / Q000235:genetics*; D018335:Rhabdoid Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D000071796:SMARCB1 Protein
chemical_list: D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D016160:Retinoblastoma Protein; D000071796:SMARCB1 Protein; C513265:Smarcb1 protein, mouse