Breast Cancer Res. 2011 Oct 12;13(5):112. doi: 10.1186/bcr2939.
Advances in genotyping technology have provided us with a large number of genetic loci associated with cancer susceptibility; however, our ability to understand the functional effects of the genetic variants of these loci remains limited. In the previous issue, Smits and colleagues demonstrate the use of congenic rat strains to discover that the Mcs5a breast cancer susceptibility locus is most likely acting through the immune system, via novel transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. This challenges our conventional thinking of cancer susceptibility and gene regulation pathways, and illustrates the potential for rodent models to help us functionally characterize polymorphisms of cancer-associated loci.
基因分型技术的进步为我们提供了大量与癌症易感性相关的遗传位点;然而,我们理解这些位点遗传变异的功能影响的能力仍然有限。在之前的一期中,Smits 及其同事展示了利用近交系大鼠来发现 Mcs5a 乳腺癌易感性位点很可能通过免疫系统发挥作用,通过新的转录调控机制。这挑战了我们对癌症易感性和基因调控途径的传统思维,并说明了啮齿动物模型在帮助我们对与癌症相关的基因座的多态性进行功能表征方面的潜力。