Gene expression analysis of Rip1Tag2 spontaneous tumors treated by sEphB4-Alb or PBS. Mus musculus

Rip1Tag2 mice spontaneously develop tumors. Mice were treated with sEphB4-Alb or PBS for 3.5 weeks. RNA was isolated from harvested tumors and subjected to global gene expression analysis. Overall design: The transgenic Rip1Tag2 mice of C57/BL6 background were used as spontaneous tumor model. These transgenic mice express the oncogenic SV40 large T antigen (Tag) under the transcriptional control of the insulin promoter. In these mice, the entire course of tumor development can be closely followed. They develop hyperplastic/dysplastic islets that eventually become angiogenic, form invasive carcinomas, and metastasize. The Rip1Tag2 mice were fed standard laboratory diet and water ad libitum. From 12 weeks of age, all RT2 mice received 5% sugar in their water to relieve the hypoglycemia induced by the insulin-secreting tumors. From 10 weeks of age, mice (6 per group) were treated with either PBS or 10 mg/kg sEphB4-Alb intraperitoneally 3 times a weekk. The treatment continued until mice were 13.5-week-old. Tumors were harvested at week 13.5. Total RNA was then isolated from 2 tumors per group and used for global gene expression analysis with Illumina MouseRef-8 v2.0 Expression BeadChip. The gene expression level in PBS and sEphB4-Alb treated tumors were compared.