Work

Genetic analysis of the cooperative tumorigenic effects of targeted deletions of tumor suppressors Rb1, Trp53, Men1, and Pten in neuroendocrine tumors in mice

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: // Eugenia Y. Xu 1 , 2 , 3 , Evan Vosburgh 4 , 5 , Chung Wong 1 , 7 , Laura H. Tang 6 and Daniel A. Notterman 3 1 Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA 2 Department of Pediatrics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA 3 Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 4 Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Hospital, West Haven, CT 06516, USA 5 Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA 6 Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA 7 Current address: Regeneron Inc., Tarrytown, NY 10591, USA Correspondence to: Eugenia Y. Xu, email: [email protected] Daniel A. Notterman, email: [email protected] Keywords: neuroendocrine tumors; RB1 ; Trp53 ; PTEN ; Men1 Received: April 20, 2020 Accepted: June 15, 2020 Published: July 14, 2020 ABSTRACT Genetic alterations of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) are frequently observed to have cumulative or cooperative tumorigenic effects. We examined whether the TSGs Rb1 , Trp53 , Pten and Men1 have cooperative effects in suppressing neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) in mice. We generated pairwise homozygous deletions of these four genes in insulin II gene expressing cells using the Cre-LoxP system. By monitoring growth and examining the histopathology of the pituitary (Pit) and pancreas (Pan) in these mice, we demonstrated that pRB had the strongest cooperative function with PTEN in suppressing PitNETs and had strong cooperative function with Menin and TRP53, respectively, in suppressing PitNETs and PanNETs. TRP53 had weak cooperative function with PTEN in suppressing pituitary lesions. We also found that deletion of Pten singly led to prolactinomas in female mice, and deletion of Rb1 alone led to islet hyperplasia in pancreas. Collectively, our data indicated that pRB and PTEN pathways play significant roles in suppressing PitNETs, while the Menin-mediated pathway plays a significant role in suppressing PanNETs. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of these genes and pathways on NETs will help us understand the molecular mechanisms of neuroendocrine tumorigenesis and develop effective preclinical murine models for NET therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes in humans.

Source: Oncotarget

DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.27660

Authors: Eugenia Y. Xu, Evan Vosburgh, Chung Wong, Laura H. Tang, Daniel A. Notterman