Comparative Genomics, Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Peer Reviewed Articles

Genetic induction of tumorigenesis in Swine

SJ Adam, LA Rund, KN Kuzmuk, JF Zachary, LB Schook and CM Counter

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Abstract

The transition from basic to clinical cancer research for a number of experimental therapeutics is hampered by the lack of a genetically malleable, large animal model. To this end, we genetically engineered primary porcine cells to be tumorigenic by expression of proteins known to perturb pathways commonly corrupted in human cancer. Akin to human cells, these porcine cells were quite resistant to transformation, requiring multiple genetic changes. Moreover, the transformed porcine cells pro- duced tumors when returned to the isogenic host animal. The ability to now rapidly and reproducibly genetically induce tumors of sizes similar to those treated clinically in a large mammal similar to humans in many respects will provide a robust cancer model for preclinical studies dependant on generating large tumors.