Abstract

Our recent study shows a pivotal role of Dmp1 in quenching hyperproliferative signals from HER2 to the Arf-p53 pathway as a safety mechanism to prevent breast carcinogenesis. To directly demonstrate the role of Dmp1 in preventing HER2/neu-driven oncogenic transformation, we established Flag-Dmp1α transgenic mice (MDTG) under the control of the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter. The mice were viable but exhibited poorly developed mammary glands with markedly reduced milk production; thus more than half of parous females were unable to support the lives of new born pups. The mammary glands of the MDTG mice had very low Ki-67 expression but high levels of Arf, Ink4a, p53, and p21Cip1, markers of senescence and accelerated aging. In all strains of generated MDTG;neu mice, tumor development was significantly delayed with decreased tumor weight. Tumors from MDTG;neu mice expressed Flag-Dmp1α and Ki-67 in a mutually exclusive fashion indicating that transgenic Dmp1α prevented tumor growth in vivo. Genomic DNA analyses showed that the Dmp1α transgene was partially lost in half of the MDTG;neu tumors, and Western blot analyses showed Dmp1α protein downregulation in 80% of the cases. Our data demonstrate critical roles of Dmp1 in preventing mammary tumorigenesis and raise the possibility of treating breast cancer by restoring Dmp1α expression.

Highlights

  • Breast cancer is one of the most important public health issues in the United States and most industrialized countries [1,2,3,4]

  • We recently found that loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of human DMP1 (hDMP1) was present in,35% of non-small cell lung carcinomas [30,35,36]

  • Establishment of mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-Flag-Dmp1a Mice To elucidate the roles of Dmp1a in mammary tumor development and prevention of human c-ErbB2 gene (HER2);neu-induced mammary carcinogenesis, we created transgenic mice that constitutively express the Flag-tagged murine Dmp1a gene under the control of the MMTV promoter (MMTV-Flag-Dmp1a, MMTV-Flag-Dmp1a transgenic (MDTG)) (Fig. S1; strain 138 results, not shown)

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Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer is one of the most important public health issues in the United States and most industrialized countries [1,2,3,4]. ER is the primary transcription factor driving oncogenesis in hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, and usually responsive to adjuvant hormonal therapy with antiestrogens or aromatase inhibitors, giving a more favorable prognosis [1]. ER-negative tumors are frequently associated with more aggressive disease with poorer clinical outcomes, including amplification of HER2 or c-Myc oncogenes or gain-of-function mutation of p53 [1,4]. BRCA1/2 are highpenetrance breast cancer predisposition genes identified by genome-wide linkage analysis and positional cloning. Mutations of so-called low penetrance breast cancer genes functionally related to BRCA1/2, such as CHEK2, ATM, BRIP1, and PALB2, are rare, but confer an intermediate risk of the disease [5]

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