Gene expression profiling of Trop2+ cells in mouse Apc-deficient small intestinal early adenomas

Tumor Associated Calcium Signal Transducer 2 (TACSTD2) is one of the cancer-related genes whose overexpression correlates with tumor progression and invasiveness in human colorectal cancer. TACSTD2 gene encodes for a transmembrane glycoprotein TROP2, which is implicated in altered expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and may play a role in metastasis formation. To determine how TROP2 affects aberrant tumor cell signaling, we isolated early adenoma cells from the mouse small intestine 6 weeks after disruption of the Adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc) gene, one of the first steps in the development of colorectal cancer in human. We performed expression profiling of Trop2+ and Trop2- tumor cells and, in addition, non-tumor cells of the intestinal epithelium, including predominantly differentiated cells.