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Telomerase deficiency and telomere dysfunction inhibit mammary tumors induced by polyomavirus middle T oncogene

Oncogene volume 28, pages 4225–4236 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Mice transgenic for MUC1 (mucin 1) and polyomavirus middle T (PyMT) develop mammary carcinomas within 15 weeks with 100% penetrance. PyMT-induced mammary tumorigenesis is closely correlated with robust telomerase expression and activity. To assess the role of telomerase activation and telomere maintenance in mammary carcinoma tumorigenesis, we generated mice expressing MUC1 and PyMT (MMT mice) but deficient in the telomerase RNA component, mTerc, on the C57BL/6 background. Successive generational intercrosses of mTerc−/−MMT mice produced cohorts with progressively shorter telomeres that were audited for mammary tumor formation. Relative to MMT (N=14) and G0 mTerc+/− female controls (G0=14), mTerc−/−MMT females (G1=11, G2=15, G3=15 and G4=5) showed decreased tumor volumes and increased tumor latency—MMT=95.6 days; G0 mTerc+/−MMT=98.6 days versus G1, G2, G3 and G4 mTerc−/−MMT mice with latencies of 122.6, 138.9, 140.7 and 220.9 days, respectively (controls versus G1–G4, P<0.005). The progressive impairment of lung metastasis was also observed with each successive mTerc−/−MMT generation. The impairment of tumorigenesis was associated with decreased proliferation of mammary epithelial and tumor cells and increased apoptosis of tumor cells. Together, these results indicate that, in the setting of viral oncoprotein mammary tumorigenesis, telomerase-dependent telomere maintenance facilitates the formation and metastatic progression of mammary tumors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (BCTR0503792 to JG and PDF060881 to MJ) and the US Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research programs (JG). We thank Dr Ronald A DePinho for providing mTerc−/− mice, advice and comments on the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    M Jaskelioff

  2. Department of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    W Song, J Xia, C Liu, J Kramer & J Gong

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    S Koido

  4. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

    S J Gendler

  5. Molecular and Cellular Radiation Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    S K Calderwood

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Correspondence to J Gong.

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Jaskelioff, M., Song, W., Xia, J. et al. Telomerase deficiency and telomere dysfunction inhibit mammary tumors induced by polyomavirus middle T oncogene. Oncogene 28, 4225–4236 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2009.268

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