ETV6-NTRK3 fusion oncoprotein transduces NIH 3T3 cells. Mus musculus

We report a mouse model that recapitulates expression of the ETV6-NTRK3 (EN) fusion oncoprotein, the product of the t(12;15)(p13;q25) translocation characteristic of human secretory breast carcinoma. Activation of EN expression in mammary tissues by Whey acidic protein (Wap) promoter-driven Cre leads to fully penetrant, multifocal malignant breast cancer with short latency. We provide genetic evidence that committed bipotent or CD61+ luminal alveolar progenitors, are targets of tumorigenesis. Furthermore, EN transforms these otherwise transient progenitors through activation of the AP1 complex. To study the initial effects of ETV6-NTRK3 (EN) mediated transformation, we retrovirally transduced NIH 3T3 cells and generated microarray expression profiling data of EN transduced 3T3 cells as well as control 3T3 cells. Using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), we identified a signature involving the AP1 transcriptional complex in EN transduced 3T3 cells. Keywords: genetic modification, cell type comparison Overall design: We retrovirally transduced NIH 3T3 cells with either EN, or controls (either the empty vector or a kinase-dead version of EN with a mutation at the kinase domain of NTRK3). We then prepared total RNAs from these cells and collected microarray expression profiling data from them using Affymetrix mouse MOE430A chips.