Gene expression analysis of tumors from ApcD14/+ mice

Amoung their pleiotropic functions, a role was recently assigned for b-arrestin scaffold proteins in tumor growth, angiogenesis and invasion. In order to elucidate the roles of b-arrestins in tumour developement in intestinal epithelium initiated by Apc mutation, we determined the effects of b-arrestin gene deletion on intestinal polypolis using ApcD14/+ mice, a relevant mouse model of human intestinal tumorigenesis.Here we show that unlike b-arrestin1, absence of b-arrestin2 dramatically decreased the number of spontaneously developping intestinal tumors in ApcD14/+ mice.The size of residual tumors was similarto that of controls, suggesting that their growth is b-arrestin2-independent. This result demonstrated a role for b-arrestin2 in the early development of a tumor subset. Gene expression profils analysis of ApcD14/+:Arrb2+/+ and ApcD14/+:Arrb2-/- tumors showed two distinct clusters among ApcD14/+:Arrb2+/+ tumors and one of them was statistically more correlated to ApcD14/+:Arrb2-/- tumors than to the other ApcD14/+:Arrb2+/+ cluster, eventhough a number of genes saw their expression affected in ApcD14/+:Arrb2-/- tumors only. Altogether, our data unravel an unexpected early diversity among intestinal tumors and a crucial role for b-arrestin2 in early tumor development in Apc-mutated mice. 10 tumors from 2 different ApcD14 mice