Overexpression of the Low Molecular Weight Cyclin E in Transgenic Mice Induces Metastatic Mammary Carcinomas through the Disruption of the ARF-p53 Pathway

Abstract

In tumor cells, cyclin E deregulation results in the appearance of five low molecular weight (LMW) isoforms. When overexpressed in breast cancer cells, these forms of cyclin E induce genomic instability, resistance to inhibition by p21 and p27, and resistance to antiestrogen therapy. Additionally, the LMW forms of cyclin E strongly correlate with decreased survival in patients with breast cancer. However, the oncologic role of the LMW forms of cyclin E in breast cancer tumorigenesis is yet to be determined. To this end, we generated transgenic mice expressing full-length cyclin E alone (M46A), full-length and the EL4 isoforms (EL1/EL4), or the EL2/3 isoforms of cyclin E (T1) under the control of the mouse mammary tumor virus promoter. Compared with full-length cyclin E, LMW cyclin E overexpression induces delayed mammary growth during the pubertal phase and abnormal cell morphology during lactation. Both primary mammary tumor formation and metastasis were markedly enhanced in LMW cyclin E transgenic mice. LMW cyclin E overexpression in mammary epithelial cells of mice is sufficient by itself to induce mammary adenocarcinomas in 34 of 124 (27%) animals compared with 7 of 67 (10.4%) mice expressing only the full-length cyclin E (P < 0.05). In addition, metastasis was seen in 25% of LMW cyclin E tumor–bearing animals compared with only 8.3% of tumors in the full-length cyclin E background (P < 0.05). Moreover, LMW cyclin E overexpression selects for inactivation of p53 by loss of heterozygosity and spontaneous and frequent inactivation of ARF. Therefore, LMW cyclin E overexpression strongly selects for spontaneous inactivation of the ARF-p53 pathway in vivo, canceling its protective checkpoint function and accelerating progression to malignancy. [Cancer Res 2007;67(15):7212–22]