Expression and mutational analyses of the human MAD2L1 gene in breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disorder in which most tumors display some degree of aneuploidy, especially those at later stages of the disease. Aneuploidy and associated chromosome instability may be important in the progression of mammary tumorigenesis. Aneuploidy is prevented during normal cell division in part through regulation of a mitotic spindle checkpoint where mitotic arrest prevents segregation of misaligned chromosomes into daughter cells at anaphase. Mitotic arrest genes, including the MAD family, which was originally characterized in yeast, help regulate normal function of the mitotic spindle checkpoint. Decreased expression of the human gene MAD2L1 was previously reported in a breast cancer cell line exhibiting chromosome instability and aneuploidy. To explore further the potential role of MAD2L1 in breast cancer, we analyzed MAD2L1 gene expression in 13 minimally to grossly aneuploid human breast cancer cell lines and found significant differences of expression in three lines. Sequence analysis of MAD2L1 cDNA in these as well as nine additional aneuploid breast cancer and five immortalized normal human mammary epithelial cell lines revealed one heterozygous frameshift (572 del A) mutation in a cancer cell line that demonstrated a high level of transcript expression. In addition, two 3'UTR sequence variants were noted in breast cancer cell lines. The 572 del A mutation creates a truncated MAD2 protein product. Further functional studies in primary breast tumors are therefore warranted to determine the potential role MAD2L1 may play in breast cancer.

Mutation and expression analysis of human BUB1 and BUB1B in aneuploid breast cancer cell lines.

Genetic instability is a hallmark feature of breast, colorectal and other types of cancers. One type characterized by chromosomal instability is thought to be important in the pathogenesis of many solid tumors displaying aneuploidy. Two related protein kinases and homologues of the yeast checkpoint genes, hBUB1 and hBUB1B, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancers. Mutations in hBUB1 have demonstrated a dominant negative effect by disrupting the mitotic checkpoint when transfected into euploid colon cancer cell lines. In Brca2 deficient murine cells, Bub1 mutants potentiate growth and cellular transformation. This would suggest that aneuploidy in solid tumors including breast, could be the result of defects in mitotic checkpoint genes and may be responsible for a chromosomal instability phenotype contributing to tumor progression. We conducted mutational analysis of 19 aneuploid breast cancer cell lines. No mutations were found but we identified nine sequence variations including five previously unreported sequence variants in hBUB1B, two of which affect restrictions sites. None of these nucleotide changes predict significant changes in the predicted protein structure. Expression analysis by Northern blot of breast cell lines showed variable expression of hBUB1 and hBUB1B genes. This suggest that while regulation of expression of these genes may be important in cancer, the lack of putative deleterious mutations in the coding sequence does not support a frequent role for mutant hBUB1 and hBUB1B alleles in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.

Mouse male sterility and histoincompatibility (mshi) maps between the D10Mit51/168/212 cluster and D10Mit213.

The recessive male sterility and histoincompatibility (mshi) mutation in the mouse generates pleiotropic effects on graft transplantation and male reproduction. Previous analysis of backcross mice typed for mshi either by testicular morphology or by allograft rejection has located each trait to a 20-cM region on proximal mouse Chr 10. Here we present the microsatellite polymorphism analysis of a new 276-member intraspecific backcross panel--including a set of 135 males typed for sterility and histoincompatibility--that places both features controlled by mshi within a 1.7-cM interval between markers D10Mit51/168/212 and D10Mit213. In addition, this analysis has allowed an explicit test of a two-gene model for the mshi locus and has provided a measurement of the penetrance of the mshi-generated histogenic phenotype in both male (88.4 +/- 3.9%) and female (91.0 +/- 3.5%) mutants. The fine-structure map presented should facilitate a chromosome walk across this region and, ultimately, the molecular identification of the gene or genes affected by this interesting mutation.

Molecular genetic mapping of the mouse male sterility and histoincompatibility (mshi) mutation on proximal chromosome 10.

The recessive male sterility and histoincompatibility (mshi) mutation in the mouse generates pleiotropic effects on histocompatibility and male reproduction, while female mutants appear to be reproductively normal. We have mapped the mshi mutation to mouse Chromosome (Chr) 10 by analysis of 126 progeny from an intraspecific backcross. Our analysis both places the male sterility and histoincompatibility controlled by mshi within a 20-cM interval between the markers D10Mit51/D10Mit212 and D10Mit170 and has allowed the ordering of several other microsatellite markers on Chr 10 that were previously unresolved. The high-resolution backcross panel we describe should facilitate the isolation of more tightly linked probe sequences and, ultimately, the molecular identification of the gene or genes affected by this interesting mutation.