Project description:Most BRCA1-deficient BLBCs carry a dysfunctional INK4-RB pathway. Thus, we have created genetically engineered mice with Brca1 loss and deletion of p16INK4A, or separately p18INK4C, to model the deficient INK4-RB signaling in human BLBC. By using these mutant mice and human BRCA1 deficient and proficient breast cancer tissues and cells, we tested if there exists a druggable target in BRCA1 deficient breast cancers.
Project description:Brca1 mutation predisposes women to early onset of breast and ovarian cancers.Through its diverse functions in DNA damage repair, cell cycle control, transcription regulation, ubiquitination and so on, BRCA1 acts as a very significant tumor suppressor and genomic safeguard. Brca1 deficiency induces severe cellular stress, when occurring in the mammary glands, it impairs the regular developmental process and eventually causes tumorigenesis due to accumulation of genome instability and other mechanisms. The Brca1-defiencient mouse mammary tumor were characterized with great tumoral heterogeneity, which is in line with the human breast cancers carrying BRCA1 mutations. Here we studied the molecular complexicity of Brca1-deficient mouse mammary tumors vie RNA sequencing.
Project description:Brca1 mutation predisposes women to early onset of breast and ovarian cancers.Through its diverse functions in DNA damage repair, cell cycle control, transcription regulation, ubiquitination and so on, BRCA1 acts as a very significant tumor suppressor and genomic safeguard. Brca1 deficiency induces severe cellular stress, when occurring in the mammary glands, it impairs the regular developmental process and eventually causes tumorigenesis due to accumulation of genome instability and other mechanisms. The Brca1-defiencient mouse mammary tumor were characterized with great tumoral heterogeneity, which is in line with the human breast cancers carrying BRCA1 mutations. Here we studied the molecular complexicity of Brca1-deficient mouse mammary tumors vie Dropseq.
Project description:To investigate the impact of combined Rb and p53 loss in mammary tumorigenesis, we used transgenic and viral approaches to delete Rb and p53 floxed alleles specifically in the mouse mammary epithelium. Although MMTV-Cre (NLST) targets stem/bi-potent progenitors in the mammary gland, a subset of MMTV-Cre:Rbf/f;p53f/f mice developed non-mammary tumors. Thus, freshly isolated primary mammary epithelial cells from these animals were transplanted into the mammary fat pads of immunodeficient mice and monitored for tumor formation. In addition, primary MECs were isolated from Cre-negative Rbf/f;p53f/f mice, infected with Ad-Cre followed by orthotopic transplantation. In all these cases, resulting tumors shared similar spindle-shape histology, expressed high levels of vimentin, a mesenchymal marker, but not E-cadherin, a luminal marker, and were classified as adeno-sacrcomatoid/spindle-cell/mesenchymal-like breast cancer. We used aCGH to detect copy number alterations associated with Rb/p53 deletion. Tumor DNAs from MMTV-Cre: Rbf/f;p53f/f and Ad-Cre: Rbf/f;p53f/f conditional mutant mice are being compared to pooled tail DNAs in order to identify common alterations associated with Rb/p53 deficient tumorigenesis
Project description:Breast cancers that are “triple-negative” for the clinical markers ESR1, PGR, and HER2 typically belong to the Basal-like molecular subtype. Defective Rb, p53, and Brca1 pathways are each associated with triple-negative and Basal-like subtypes. Our mouse genetic studies demonstrate that the combined inactivation of Rb and p53 pathways is sufficient to suppress the physiological cell death of mammary involution. Furthermore, concomitant inactivation of all three pathways in mammary epithelium has an additive effect on tumor latency and predisposes highly penetrant, metastatic adenocarcinomas. The tumors are poorly differentiated and have histologic features that are common among human Brca1-mutated tumors, including heterogeneous morphology, metaplasia, and necrosis. Gene expression analyses demonstrate that the tumors share attributes of both Basal-like and Claudin-low signatures, two molecular subtypes encompassed by the broader, triple-negative class defined by clinical markers. These studies establish a unique animal model of aggressive forms of breast cancer for which there are no effective, targeted treatments. Rb, p53, and Brca1 are associated with inherited forms of cancer, but defects in these pathways are also found together in a subset of breast cancer patients without a family history of the disease. Simultaneous inactivation of all three pathways causes more aggressive disease than do pair-wise combinations, indicating that the pathways play non-overlapping roles in tumor prevention.
Project description:Breast cancers that are “triple-negative” for the clinical markers ESR1, PGR, and HER2 typically belong to the Basal-like molecular subtype. Defective Rb, p53, and Brca1 pathways are each associated with triple-negative and Basal-like subtypes. Our mouse genetic studies demonstrate that the combined inactivation of Rb and p53 pathways is sufficient to suppress the physiological cell death of mammary involution. Furthermore, concomitant inactivation of all three pathways in mammary epithelium has an additive effect on tumor latency and predisposes highly penetrant, metastatic adenocarcinomas. The tumors are poorly differentiated and have histologic features that are common among human Brca1-mutated tumors, including heterogeneous morphology, metaplasia, and necrosis. Gene expression analyses demonstrate that the tumors share attributes of both Basal-like and Claudin-low signatures, two molecular subtypes encompassed by the broader, triple-negative class defined by clinical markers. These studies establish a unique animal model of aggressive forms of breast cancer for which there are no effective, targeted treatments. Rb, p53, and Brca1 are associated with inherited forms of cancer, but defects in these pathways are also found together in a subset of breast cancer patients without a family history of the disease. Simultaneous inactivation of all three pathways causes more aggressive disease than do pair-wise combinations, indicating that the pathways play non-overlapping roles in tumor prevention. We investigated the effect of perturbation of Rb family pathways, p53, and/or Brca1 in mouse mammary epithelium. Eighteen tumors were compared to normal spleen DNA.
Project description:We have developed novel genetically engineered mouse mammary cancer models that develop hormone receptor-positive or -negative tumors depending on the combination of genetic abrrations induced in tumors. Tumors with loss of Brca1 and Trp53 are hormone receptor (HR) negative and tumors with or without Brca1 loss together with concomitant loss of Trp53 and inhibition of proteins of Rb family (Rbf) are HR positive. Transcriptome analysis revealed that HR-positive and -negative mammary tumors recapitulated human luminal and basal-like breast cancer expression signatures, respectively, confirming the histology-defined subtypes.