| First Author | Muller WJ | Year | 1996 |
| Journal | Mol Cell Biol | Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 10 | Pages | 5726-36 |
| PubMed ID | 8816486 | Mgi Jnum | J:35344 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:82793 | Doi | 10.1128/mcb.16.10.5726 |
| Citation | Muller WJ, et al. (1996) Synergistic interaction of the Neu proto-oncogene product and transforming growth factor alpha in the mammary epithelium of transgenic mice. Mol Cell Biol 16(10):5726-36 |
| abstractText | Transgenic mice expressing either the neu proto-oncogene or transforming growth factor (TGF-alpha) in the mammary epithelium develop spontaneous focal mammary tumors that occur after a long latency. Since the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Neu are capable of forming heterodimers that are responsive to EGFR ligands such as TGF-alpha, we examined whether coexpression of TGF-alpha and Neu in mammary epithelium could cooperate to accelerate the onset of mammary tumors. To test this hypothesis, we interbred separate transgenic strains harboring either a mouse mammary tumor virus/TGF-alpha or a mouse mammary tumor virus/neu transgene to generate bitransgenic mice that coexpress TGF-alpha and neu in the mammary epithelium. Female mice coexpressing TGF-alpha and neu developed multifocal mammary tumors which arose after a significantly shorter latency period than either parental strain alone. The development of these mammary tumors was correlated with the tyrosine phosphorylation of Neu and the recruitment of c-Src to the Neu complex. Immunoprecipitation and immunoblot analyses with EGFR- and Neu-specific antisera, however, failed to detect physical complexes of these two receptors. Taken together, these observations suggest that Neu and TGF-alpha cooperate in mammary tumorigenesis through a mechanism involving Neu and EGFR transactivation. |
