Genomic Approaches to Understanding Mammary Tumor Progression in Transgenic Mice and Responses to Therapy

• Published in: Clinical cancer research Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 385s - 390s
• Main Authors: GREEN, Jeffrey E, DESAI, Kartiki, YUMEI YE, KAVANAUGH, Claudine, CALVO, Alfonso, HUH, Jung-Im
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American Association for Cancer Research 01-01-2004
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Progression; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Mammary Neoplasms, Animal - genetics; Mammary Neoplasms, Animal - metabolism; Mammary Neoplasms, Animal - prevention & control; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Tumors; Transgenic animal; Treatment; Mammary gland; Genome; Tumor progression
• ISSN: 1078-0432; 1557-3265
• DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-031201

Scores of genetically engineered mice have been generated in the quest to understand mechanisms of breast cancer development
and progression. More recently, there has been a growing trend for using such models for testing various therapeutic strategies
and agents. The application of these mouse models for these purposes requires that they be characterized in ways that demonstrate
they possess important similarities to human breast cancer. In particular, detailed comparisons of the features of the models
to human breast cancer must include attention to the histological phenotypes, chromosomal and molecular alterations, and the
predictive value of the models for preclinical testing. Whereas these models have become important tools for the study of
breast cancer, the great majority of existing mouse mammary cancer models develop tumors that are estrogen receptor negative,
with relatively few models demonstrating metastatic spread to the lungs, and none developing metastases to bone. This review
focuses on recent studies using genomic approaches to further understand the oncogenic processes occurring in mouse models
of mammary cancer and to compare these changes with those identified in human breast cancer. Gene expression profiling is
being applied to help define pharmacological responses that occur in vivo . Detailed genomic analyses will provide important information for selecting models for specific experimental purposes, contribute
to the understanding of oncogene-specific expression signatures and potential therapeutic targets, and further define mechanisms
of chemoprevention and chemotherapy.