Mammary tumorigenesis in 7,12-dimethybenzanthracene-treated C57BL x DBA/2f F1 mice.
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Overexpression of the epithelial specific matrix metalloproteinase matrilysin (MAT) has been correlated with enhanced tumorigenicity and tumor cell invasion using in vitro model systems. We have determined the effects of MAT expression on the development of mammary tumorigenesis using transgenic mice that express human MAT under the control of the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-long terminal repeat promoter/enhancer. Examination of mammary glands from multiparous MMTV-MAT animals revealed the development of premalignant hyperplastic alveolar nodules in 50% of aged females. MMTV-MAT mice were mated with MMTV-neu transgenic mice to determine the effect of MAT on neu-induced mammary tumorigenesis. Bigenic MMTV-MAT/neu female offspring developed primary mammary tumors approximately 13 weeks earlier than did MMTV-neu controls. The mechanism of enhanced neu-induced tumorigenesis was explored. No discernible difference in Neu receptor dimerization or activation was detected in MMTV-MAT/neu tumors or mammary glands compared to MMTV-neu controls. A similar percentage of MMTV-MAT/neu and MMTV-neu tumors acquired deletions in the neu transgene, which have previously been shown to result in constitutive receptor activation. The presence of premalignant nodules and the accelerated development of oncogene-induced mammary tumors suggest that expression of MAT in the mammary epithelium contributes to early-stage mammary tumorigenesis.
Amphiregulin (Ar) and Cripto (Cr) are autocrine growth factors for mammary cells and both have been observed to exhibit high expression in human mammary tumors, in contrast with adjacent tissues. To investigate whether Ar and Cr play roles in the progression of mammary cell proliferation to unregulated growth and tumor formation, the levels of expression were examined in transgenic mice (TGM) that over-express several different oncogenes: MMTV-Polyoma virus middle T antigen (MMTV-PyMT), MMTV-c-ErbB2 (c-neu, HER2) and MT-hTGF alpha. These transgenic mice all produce mammary tumors but with different rates of progression. The levels of Ar were induced up to 10-fold in association with hyperplasia in 2 of the TGM. Cr overexpression was consistently observed in hyperplastic mammary glands in all the animal models, decreasing in overt tumors in 2 of the TGM models. In MMTV-PyMT mammary glands, the levels of Cr expression rose 7- to 10-fold in hyperplastic tissue and 25-fold the levels in tumors compared to age-matched transgene negative mice. Ar and especially Cr thus should have potential value as markers of preneoplastic change in mammary tissue.
Low levels of anti-viral activity, mainly interferon alpha/beta (IFN-alpha/beta), are regularly found in lymphoid tissues of BALB/c mice infected with the C3H strain of mammary tumor virus. At the time of tumor development, significant amounts of anti-viral activity were detected in homogenates of spleen and mammary tumors, but not in blood and normal mammary glands. This activity is pH2-resistant and neutralized by antibody to IFN/alpha-beta. The pathogenetic role of IFN in mammary carcinogenesis was investigated in 2 ways: (a) by treating virus-infected newborn mice with antibody to IFN-alpha/beta, and (b) by giving either the latter antibody or IFN-alpha/beta to virus-free animals transplanted with pre-neoplastic lesions. Mice were treated only for 2 months, starting either 1 week after birth or immediately after tumor transplant. In case (a), treatment with antibody to IFN-alpha/beta shortened the incubation period of mammary carcinomas and decreased the mean survival time. In case (b), anti-IFN antibody did not significantly affect the development of mammary tumors. However, exogenous IFN-alpha/beta markedly reduced both tumor incidence and mortality rate. These results indicate that endogenous IFN-alpha/beta plays a crucial role in the in vivo restriction of the early infectious phase of spontaneous carcinogenesis and that relatively high doses of IFN-alpha/beta may inhibit the progression of pre-neoplastic lesions.
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Approximately 50% of tumors induced by mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) contain an acquired provirus within a limited region of chromosomal DNA, termed int-2. We have extended our previous characterization of this locus and have mapped provirus integration sites in 21 independent tumors. Although integration occurs at multiple sites, proviruses within int-2 are distributed into two oppositely oriented groups whose transcription is directed away from a central domain. Provirus insertion in int-2 is accompanied by expression of RNA derived, at least in part, from this central domain. Since the RNA is not detected in normal mammary tissue, we conclude that MMTV integration activates the expression of a cellular gene within int-2 and that this event may contribute to tumorigenesis.
Macrophage tumoricidal activity requires a constant influx of macrophages but many transplanted cancers inhibit macrophage inflammatory responses. In this paper we address the issue of whether or not autochthonous tumors induced by either mammary tumor virus (MTV) in C3H/He mice or ultraviolet (u.v.) radiation in C3H/He or BALB/c mice also depress macrophage responses. Anti-inflammatory activity was not observed either prior to or during growth of these autochthonous tumors. Rather, the opposite was observed: strongly immunogenic u.v.-induced tumors which were rejected upon transplantation to syngeneic hosts had enhanced macrophage responses and more intratumoral macrophages than those mice whose tumors were transplantable. Transplantation of MTV-induced tumors selected for more aggressive tumors which had fewer intratumoral macrophages. In both MTV- and u.v.-induced tumors inflammatory responses of mice bearing serially transplanted tumors often differed from mice with autochthonous tumors. Our results demonstrate that anti-inflammation is probably not required for emergence and growth of these autochthonous tumors, that strongly immunogenic tumors may actually enhance macrophage responses and that the effect of tumor bearing on macrophage inflammation is a characteristic of the tumor, including its site and host of origin, its immunogenicity and its transplant generation.
The murine mammary tumor system is characterized by the presence of intermediate preneoplastic mammary cell populations. The intermediate mammary cell populations are characterized as either alveolar hyperplasias or ductal hyperplasias. The most frequently encountered preneoplastic cell population is the hyperplastic alveolar nodule, which has been extensively characterized with respect to its biological and hormonal properties. While the alveolar hyperplasias are seen predominantly in mice infected with the mammary tumor virus, ductal hyperplasias are seen primarily in mice treated with chemical carcinogens. Both types of lesions can serve as morphological end points for carcinogenesis studies in the mammary gland.
Polyoma virus inoculation of athymic mice results in the development of mammary tumours with a much higher incidence than the development of salivary gland tumours, the latter being the most common for immunocompetent normal mice. The possibility existed that polyoma virus might act as a co-carcinogen in activating the expression of mouse mammary tumour virus (MMTV). Molecular hybridization studies, however, showed that the mammary tumour development was accompanied by neither the amplification of MMTV genomic sequences nor by their more extensive transcription. In contrast, tumour tissue contained about 60 to 100 copies of polyoma virus genome equivalents per cell and some of these sequences were apparently transcribed into RNA. While these results do not rule out the transient involvement of MMTV expression in mammary tumour development, it appeared that the mammary gland cells were directly transformed by polyoma virus. Apparently, polyoma virus displayed a tropism in athymic mice that was different from that in normal mice.
The involvement of the mouse mammary tumor virus (MTV) in spontaneous and hormone-induced mammary tumors in low-mammary-tumor mouse strains was studied by comparing the amounts of MTV RNA and MTV DNA sequences in mammary tumors and other tissues of mice with an without hormonal treatments. The following results were obtained. (i) Mammary tumors which appeared in C3H mice as a result of an infection with MTV contained more MTV DNA compared with noninfected organs; these mammary tumors also contained more MTV RNA than was present in lactating mammary gland cells. (ii) Hormonal stimulation by administration of excessive amounts of prolactin via hypophyseal isografts in C3Hf and O20 mice resulted in an increased expression of MTV RNA in the mammary glands. This elevated level of MTV RNA expression was, however, not maintained in the hormone-induced mammary tumors. (iii) Spontaneous mammary tumors in BALB/c mice contained similar levels of MTV DNA and MTV RNA sequences as were found in other cells of these animals.
Both BALB/cfC3H females neonatally infected with mammary tumor virus (MTV) and MTV-free BALB/c females possess spleen cells capable of significant activity against target-MTV-induced mammary tumor cells in in vitro microcytotoxicity tests. The responses of the BALB/cfC3H and BALB/c females are different, however, on the basis of time studies. Further, the reactivity characteristic of virgin BALB/cfC3H females is increased in parous females, and part of this reactivity is subsequently lost in multiparous females bearing large tumors. BALB/cfC3H females possess reactive spleen cells as early as 3 weeks of age, indicating that response to MTV antigens develops soon after birth in these neonatally infected mice.
Inapparent nodule-transformed cells were recovered from morphologically normal mammary tissue from virgin female BALB/cfC3H/Crgl (mouse mammary tumor-positive) mice before the appearance of hyperplastic alveolar nodules (HAN) or tumors, by means of the cell dissociation technique. Mammary tissues were dissociated by means of collagenase (0.1%), hyaluronidase (0.1%), and pronase (1.25%). Aliquots of 10(5) viable cells in 0.01 ml medium were injected into the gland-free mammary fat pads of 3-week-old female syngeneic mice. After 10 weeks the outgrowths were examined and classified as ductal, HAN, tumor, or combinations of these types. The presence of HAN outgrowths indicated the presence of nodule-transformed cells in the donor mammary tissues. Nodule-transformed cells were recovered from 2-month-old donors, and the number of HAN outgrowths increased with donor age. Overt HAN and tumors did not appear in virgin female BALB/cfC3H/Crgl mice younger than 8 to 9 months of age. The data suggest that inapparent nodule-transformed cells occurred long before the appearance of HAN of tumors and that the numbers of transformed cells increased with donor age.
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We have previously characterized an infectious mouse mammary tumor virus [(MMTV(SW)] which induces a strong superantigen response in vivo. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of MMTV(C4) which was derived from milk of mice implanted with hyperplastic alveolar nodules. MMTV(C4) stimulates V beta 2 expressing T cells after local injection in vivo. Comparison with known open reading frame (orf) sequences revealed high homology to Mtv-6, an endogenous virus interacting with V beta 3-expressing T cells. The carboxyl-terminal amino acids were, however, altered. High homology including the carboxyl-terminal orf amino acids were found with MMTV(C3H-K). We show here that MMTV(C3H-K) has lost its superantigen function. Sequence comparisons permitted the characterization of few key amino acids which could be important for T cell receptor interaction and superantigen processing.
We have derived and mated separate strains of transgenic mice that carry either the v-Ha-ras or the c-myc gene driven by the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter/enhancer. Mice carrying the MMTV/v-Ha-ras transgene manifest two distinct disturbances of cell growth. The first, a benign hyperplasia of the Harderian lacrimal gland, is diffuse, involves the entire gland, and likely requires only the abnormal action of the v-Ha-ras gene. The second involves the focal development of malignancies of mammary, salivary, and lymphoid tissue and likely requires additional somatic events. When the MMTV/v-Ha-ras and MMTV/c-myc strains are crossed to yield hybrid mice, their joint action results in a dramatic and synergistic acceleration of tumor formation. Since these tumors arise stochastically and are apparently monoclonal in origin, additional somatic events appear necessary for their full malignant progression, even in the presence of activated v-Ha-ras and c-myc transgenes.
Our recent studies have shown that the cellular gene at the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) integration site in the int-5 locus in BALB/c D2 precancerous hyperplastic alveolar nodules is identical to the gene encoding aromatase (CYP19), a member of the cytochrome P450 gene superfamily. MMTV integrated within the 3' untranslated region of the aromatase gene is responsible for the overexpression of this gene (int-5/aromatase) in mammary tumors. This paper describes the biological significance of overexpression of int-5/aromatase in D2 tumor cells. Using a cell line derived from the D2 tumor, we have demonstrated the effect of the aromatase substrate, androstenedione, on the proliferation of tumor cells. Proliferative effects of androstenedione were blocked by an aromatase inhibitor, providing evidence for the role of int-5/aromatase in this process. Furthermore, the androstenedione-mediated proliferation was inhibited by the addition of anti-estrogen ICI 164,384, suggesting that the estrogen formed from the conversion of androstenedione by int-5/aromatase acts like a mitogen to stimulate the growth of D2 tumor cells. This model with its known mechanism of aromatase activation should prove useful for studying the role of intra-tumoral estrogen in mammary cancer, for evaluating the effects of aromatase inhibitors, and for comparing breast cancer treatments.
Several transgenic mouse tumor models were utilized to explore how specific genetic alterations affect the tumor cell response to chemotherapeutic agents in vivo. Specifically, MMTV-ras transgenic mice were interbred to p53 knock-out mice to create a model for assessing the role of p53 in chemotherapeutic responses. In addition, MMTV-ras tumors were compared to MMTV-myc and MMTV-ras/myc tumors. Mice of each genotype reproducibly develop mammary and/or salivary tumors, but tumor growth dynamics vary considerably between genotypes. MMTV-ras/p53-/- tumors exhibit higher S phase fractions than MMTV-ras/p53+/+ tumors, although both tumor types display very low apoptosis levels. In contrast, MMTV-myc tumors exhibit both high S phase fractions and spontaneous apoptosis levels. Tumor-bearing mice of each genotype were treated with either doxorubicin or paclitaxel, and effects on overall tumor growth, cell cycle distribution and apoptosis were evaluated. Surprisingly, neither agent efficiently induced apoptosis in any of the tumor models, including those with wildtype p53. Rather, tumor responses were mediated primarily by changes in cell cycle distribution. However, the spontaneous apoptosis levels did serve as a predictor of tumor growth response, in that only those tumors with high pretreatment apoptosis levels underwent significant regression following treatment with either agent.