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MMTV-induced Pregnancy-dependent Mammary Tumors

Early History and New Perspectives

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Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Almost 60 years ago, Foulds carefully described for the first time a particular type of mouse mammary tumor that appeared in the glands of pregnant females and disappeared shortly after delivery. Since then, the attention that researchers paid to the Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV)-induced pregnancy-dependent tumors has not vanished through the years. This was because the information obtained from mice carrying MMTV variants that were able to induce pregnancy-dependent tumors was meaningful for studying different aspects of mammary tumor biology. In addition, mice infected with these viral variants provided some of the few chances to use fully hormone-dependent estrogen receptor positive breast cancer models in the mouse. In the analysis of the association between tumor morphology and behavior, the mechanisms underlying progression towards autonomy, the impact of different genes during cancer initiation and development, and the relevance of host genetic background for tumor incidence and hormone-dependence, mouse strains carrying these MMTV variants have been very important tools that could not have been replaced with any other available model. The goal of this article is to provide a succinct chronicle of the experiments and observations made in the MMTV-induced pregnancy-dependent models that most significantly contributed to the mouse mammary tumor biology field. In addition, the possibility to use these MMTV variants as alternative models for analyzing mammary tumor stem cells and pregnancy-associated breast cancer in women is discussed.

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Abbreviations

MMTV:

mouse mammary tumor virus

GEM:

genetically engineered mouse

ER:

estrogen receptor

PR:

progesterone receptor

HD:

hormone-dependent

HI:

hormone-independent

HANs:

Hyperplastic alveolar nodules

HOGs:

hyperplastic outgrowths

PI-MECs:

parity-induced mammary epithelial cells

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Omar A. Coso for critically reading the manuscript. ECK receives research support from CONICET and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina and from the Fogarty Fundation, National Institutes of Health, US (grant R01-TW06212).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology, Molecular Biology and Neurosciences (IFIBYNE-CONICET), School of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Edith C. Kordon

  2. Laboratorio de Expresión Génica en Mama y Apoptosis (LEGMA), IFIBYNE-CONICET, Facultad de Cs. Exactas y Naturales, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, 2do piso. 1428, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Edith C. Kordon

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Kordon, E.C. MMTV-induced Pregnancy-dependent Mammary Tumors. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 13, 289–297 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10911-008-9091-7

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