Novel mouse model for BRCA1 breast cancer

BRCA1 is one important marker for breast cancer; in particular BRCA1 is mutated in the invasive ductal cancer and in general is associated with lack of oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and Her/ ERB2, making useless current therapies for breast cancer. Giving the lethality of double mutant Brca1, none animal models were available up to date to study the role of this gene in tumorigenesis.

Everyone knows the importance to study cancer from its molecular basis. Scientists from the Netherlands Cancer Institute of Amsterdam proposed a conditional mutant in which tissue specific inactivation of Brca1 was performed by Cre Recombinase. This system allows to dispose on one new model that mimics several characteristics of human mammary tumour. Furthermore, numerous new inhibitors or useful molecules could be tested on this model in order to find out some drugs to care BRCA1 cancers. The work, published on the British Journal of Cancer, open new perspectives in breast cancer research. Indeed, the next generation of mouse models will regard resistance mechanisms and double mutant animals will be likely generated in order to highlight the correlation between lack of BRCA1 and the role of other proteins often mutated in breast cancer, such as TP53.