Louise Reynolds | Search PubMed

PubMed2004

Specific deletion of focal adhesion kinase suppresses tumor formation and blocks malignant progression.

We have generated mice with a floxed fak allele under the control of keratin-14-driven Cre fused to a modified estrogen receptor (CreER(T2)). 4-Hydroxy-tamoxifen treatment induced fak deletion in the epidermis, and suppressed chemically induced skin tumor formation. Loss of fak induced once benign tumors had formed inhibited malignant progression. Although fak deletion was associated with reduced migration of keratinocytes in vitro, we found no effect on wound re-epithelialization in vivo. However, increased keratinocyte cell death was observed after fak deletion in vitro and in vivo. Our work provides the first experimental proof implicating FAK in tumorigenesis, and this is associated with enhanced apoptosis.

9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene↗

PubMed2003

Combination of microdissection and microarray analysis to identify gene expression changes between differentially located tumour cells in breast cancer.

Comparison of gene expression changes between cancer cells at the periphery and in the centre of breast cancers was performed using a combination of microdissection and microarray analysis. Cancer cells from the two areas were pooled separately from five patients with ductal carcinoma in situ and separately from five patients with frankly invasive cancer. Limited total RNA, 100-200 ng, from this microdissected tissue required use of the Atlas SMART trade mark Probe Amplification Kit to synthesize and amplify cDNA and make (33)P-labelled probes. Probes were then hybridized to Atlas Human Cancer 1.2 Arrays containing 1176 known genes. Triplicate analysis revealed that 22 genes changed their expression levels in the periphery relative to the central region: 15 upregulated and seven downregulated (arbitrary threshold of 1.5-fold or greater). Differences in RNA levels were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR for two of the genes and by changes in protein levels, detected by immunohistochemistry, for a couple of representative gene products. Thus, changes in gene expression associated with variation in microanatomical location of neoplastic cells can be detected within even small developing tumour masses.

Adenocarcinoma↗