My watch list
my.bionity.com  
Login  

Acquisition Order of Ras and p53 Gene Alterations Defines Distinct Adrenocortical Tumor Phenotypes

by Maryline Herbet, Aude Salomon, Jean-Jacques Feige, Michaël Thomas

Sporadic adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) are rare endocrine neoplasms with a dismal prognosis. By contrast, benign tumors of the adrenal cortex are common in the general population. Whether benign tumors represent a separate entity or are in fact part of a process of tumor progression ultimately leading to an ACC is still an unresolved issue. To this end, we have developed a mouse model of tumor progression by successively transducing genes altered in adrenocortical tumors into normal adrenocortical cells. The introduction in different orders of the oncogenic allele of Ras (H-RasG12V) and the mutant p53DD that disrupts the p53 pathway yielded tumors displaying major differences in histological features, tumorigenicity, and metastatic behavior. Whereas the successive expression of RasG12V and p53DD led to highly malignant tumors with metastatic behavior, reminiscent of those formed after the simultaneous introduction of p53DD and RasG12V, the reverse sequence gave rise only to benign tumors. Microarray profiling revealed that 157 genes related to cancer development and progression were differentially expressed. Of these genes, 40 were up-regulated and 117 were down-regulated in malignant cell populations as compared with benign cell populations. This is the first evidence-based observation that ACC development follows a multistage progression and that the tumor phenotype is directly influenced by the order of acquisition of genetic alterations.

Authors:   Maryline Herbet et al.
Journal:   PLoS Genetics
Volume:   8
Issue:   5
Year:   2012
Pages:   e1002700
DOI:   10.1371/journal.pgen.1002700
Publication date:   10-05-2012

Watchlist

This is where you can add this publication to your personal favourites.

Additional Information

Facts, background information, dossiers
More about Public Library of Science
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE