Fibroblasts are major cellular components of the tumor microenvironment, regulating tumor cell behavior in part through secretion of extracellular matrix proteins, growth factors, and angiogenic factors. In previous studies, conditional deletion of the type II transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) receptor in fibroblasts (Tgfbr2FspKO) was shown to promote mammary tumor metastasis in fibrob...

Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) signaling in cancer has been termed the "TGF-β paradox", acting as both a tumor suppresser and promoter. The complexity of TGF-β signaling within the tumor is context dependent, and greatly impacted by cellular crosstalk between TGF-β responsive cells in the microenvironment including adjacent epithelial, endothelial, mesenchymal, and hematopoietic cells. He...

Thymoma is an uncommon condition characterized by being the most frequent neoplasm of anterior mediastinum. It classically appears as a well-demarcated, lobulated tumor mass encapsulated fibrous capsule. A 46-year-old female was diagnosed with thymoma aspiration biopsy. Surgery performed through median sternal incision. The left location required placement mammary artery retractor to achieve be...

Development of mammary tumors in primiparous C3H/HeN mice (mouse mammary tumor virus positive) in various thyroid states was followed for one year after removal of pups. Animals were either euthyroid or made hyperthyroid (by ingestion of thyroxine) or hypothyroid (by ingestion of 2-thiouracil) during involution. These manipulations resulted in significant changes in serum 3,5,3'-triiodo-L-thyro...

s and Posters Published An Zou, Diana Lambert, Nikki Cheng. De-regulated CXCL1 secretion from tumorstromal cells promotes mammary tumor cell invasion. (KUCC Research Symposium.Kansas City. November 2013. Poster Presentation)An Zou, Diana Lambert, Henry Yeh, Wei Bin Fang, Nikki Cheng. TGF-β regulatesCXCL1 expression in mammary carcinoma associated fibroblasts through novelSma...

During mammary tumorigenesis, there is a profound tumor-induced immunosuppression and a progressive thymic atrophy associated with tumor development. IFN-γ has been shown to be effective in enhancing antitumor responses in several tumor models, however, how IFN-γ exerts its anti-tumor effect is largely controversial. In the present study we have used a mammary tumor model to investigate whether...

Brca2 is an important tumor suppressor associated with susceptibility to breast cancer. Although increasing evidence indicates that the primary function of Brca2 is to facilitate the repair of DNA damage via the homologous recombination pathway, how Brca2 prevents breast cancer is largely unknown. To study the role of Brca2 specifically in mammary epithelium development, we crossed mice bearing...

Clinically relevant animal models of mammary carcinogenesis are crucial for the development and evaluation of new breast cancer chemopreventive agents. The neu-induced retroviral rat mammary carcinogenesis model is based on the direct in situ transfer of the activated neu oncogene into the mammary epithelium using a replication-defective retroviral vector. The resulting mammary carcinomas in in...

Clinically relevant animal models of mammary carcinogenesis are crucial for the development and evaluation of new breast cancer chemopreventive agents. The neu-induced retroviral rat mammary carcinogenesis model is based on the direct in situ transfer of the activated neu oncogene into the mammary epithelium using a replication-defective retroviral vector. The resulting mammary carcinomas in in...

T-cadherin delineates endothelial, myoepithelial, and ductal epithelial cells in the normal mouse mammary gland, and becomes progressively restricted to the vasculature during mammary tumorigenesis. To test the function of T-cadherin in breast cancer, we inactivated the T-cadherin (Cdh13) gene in mice and evaluated tumor development and pathology after crossing the mutation into the mouse mamma...