| First Author | Reddy KB | Year | 2001 |
| Journal | Oncogene | Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 45 | Pages | 6538-43 |
| PubMed ID | 11641778 | Mgi Jnum | J:72205 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2151993 | Doi | 10.1038/sj.onc.1204796 |
| Citation | Reddy KB, et al. (2001) Maspin expression inversely correlates with breast tumor progression in MMTV/TGF-alpha transgenic mouse model. Oncogene 20(45):6538-43 |
| abstractText | Maspin is a novel serine protease inhibitor (serpin) with tumor suppressive activity. To date, despite the mounting evidence implicating the potential diagnostic/prognostic and therapeutic value of maspin in breast and prostate carcinoma, the lack of a suitable animal model hampers the in vivo investigation on the role of maspin at different stages of tumor progression. In this study, we used MMTV/TGF-alpha transgenic mouse model to study the expression profile of maspin in mammary tumor progression. Histopathological examinations of MMTV/TGF-alpha transgenic mice revealed TGF-alpha expression leading to hyperproliferation, hyperplasia, and occasional carcinoma in mammary gland. Interestingly, when MMTV/TGF-alpha transgenic mice were breed to homozygocity, they also developed characteristic skin papillomas. Immunohistochemistry analysis of maspin expression in the breast tissues of TGF-alpha transgenic mice showed a direct correlation between down-regulation of maspin expression and tumor progression. The loss of maspin expression was concomitant with the critical transition from carcinoma in situ to invasive carcinoma. Subsequent in-situ hybridization analyses suggest that the down-regulation of maspin expression is primarily a transcriptional event. This data is consistent with the tumor suppressive role of maspin. Furthermore, our data suggests that MMTV/TGF-alpha transgenic mouse model is advantageous for in vivo evaluation of both the expression and the biological function of maspin during the slow multi-stage carcinogenesis of mammary gland. |
