BACKGROUND
Transgenic animals are currently produced as disease models to exhibit disease symptoms so that effective treatment can be studied
TECHNOLOGY
JHU researchers have generated transgenic mice expressing the hot spot mutations for PI3KCA (H1047R and E545K) specifically in mammary gland to address the role of P1K3CA in normal mammary gland development and tumorigenesis.
Looking for Partners:
The Pre-malignant epithelial cells containing the mutations, the tumor and derived cell lines can be used to study the molecular basis of PIK3CA mutations and her2/neu amplification in breast tumor development. These materials can also be used for drug intervention studies, where already existing inhibitors of this pathway can be tested and novel drugs developed. As there was previous evidence that this pathway is important in stem cell survival and proliferation we will explore this hypothesis in our mouse model and address their role in tumor formation.
