title: Lessons in signaling and tumorigenesis from polyomavirus middle T antigen.
abstract: The small DNA tumor viruses have provided a very long-lived source of insights into many aspects of the life cycle of eukaryotic cells. In recent years, the emphasis has been on cancer-related signaling. Here we review murine polyomavirus middle T antigen, its mechanisms, and its downstream pathways of transformation. We concentrate on the MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse, one of the most studied models of breast cancer, which permits the examination of in situ tumor progression from hyperplasia to metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Interdepartmental Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. fluck@msu.edu
authors.forename: Michele M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Fluck
authors.forename: Brian S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Schaffhausen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000952:Antigens, Polyomavirus Transforming / Q000378:metabolism*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011120:Polyomavirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D027601:Polyomavirus Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D000952:Antigens, Polyomavirus Transforming