Abstract
The PI3K/PTEN/AKT pathway is the most frequently mutated pathway in endometrial carcinoma. Mouse models are invaluable tools to understand, at the molecular level, the contributions of components of this pathway towards initiation and progression of endometrial carcinoma. This chapter summarizes results of germline and tissue specific knockout mouse models generated to understand how mutations in components of this pathway lead to development of carcinoma and its interactions with other frequently altered pathways like mismatch repair and estrogen signaling. The mouse models show that loss of both alleles of Pten is necessary and sufficient for complex atypical hyperplasia (CAH) to develop but insufficient for progression to carcinoma. Additional events like mutations in Pik3ca or mismatch repair deficiency are required for progression to carcinoma. The models show that the interaction between Pten and estrogen signaling is complex. In the absence of estrogen, Pten loss is sufficient for development of CAH. Additionally, lack of ERĪ± on a background of Pten loss leads to the development of carcinoma.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Tashiro H, Blazes MS, Wu R, Cho KR, Bose S, Wang SI, Li J, Parsons R, Ellenson LH. Mutations in PTEN are frequent in endometrial carcinoma but rare in other common gynecological malignancies. Cancer Res. 1997;57:3935ā40.
Risinger JI, Hayes AK, Berchuck A, Barrett JC. PTEN/MMAC1 mutations in endometrial cancers. Cancer Res. 1997;57:4736ā8.
Kanamori Y, Kigawa J, Itamochi H, Shimada M, Takahashi M, Kamazawa S, Sato S, Akeshima R, Terakawa N. Correlation between loss of PTEN expression and Akt phosphorylation in endometrial carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2001;7:892ā5.
Podsypanina K, Ellenson LH, Nemes A, Gu J, Tamura M, Yamada KM, Cordon-Cardo C, Catoretti G, Fisher PE, Parsons R. Mutation of Pten/Mmac1 in mice causes neoplasia in multiple organ systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999;96:1563ā8.
Stambolic V, Tsao MS, Macpherson D, Suzuki A, Chapman WB, Mak TW. High incidence of breast and endometrial neoplasia resembling human Cowden syndrome in pten+/- mice. Cancer Res. 2000;60:3605ā11.
MacDonald ND, Salvesen HB, Ryan A, Iversen OE, Akslen LA, Jacobs IJ. Frequency and prognostic impact of microsatellite instability in a large population-based study of endometrial carcinomas. Cancer Res. 2000;60:1750ā2.
Gurin CC, Federici MG, Kang L, Boyd J. Causes and consequences of microsatellite instability in endometrial carcinoma. Cancer Res. 1999;59:462ā6.
Levine RL, Cargile CB, Blazes MS, van Rees B, Kurman RJ, Ellenson LH. PTEN mutations and microsatellite instability in complex atypical hyperplasia, a precursor lesion to uterine endometrioid carcinoma. Cancer Res. 1998;58:3254ā8.
Esteller M, Levine R, Baylin SB, Ellenson LH, Herman JG. MLH1 promoter hypermethylation is associated with the microsatellite instability phenotype in sporadic endometrial carcinomas. Oncogene. 1998;17:2413ā7.
Esteller M, Xercavins J, Reventos J. Advances in the molecular genetics of endometrial cancer (Review). Oncol Rep. 1999;6:1377ā82.
Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network, Kandoth C, Schultz N, Cherniack AD, Akbani R, Liu Y, Shen H, Robertson AG, Pashtan I, Shen R, Benz CC, Yau C, Laird PW, Ding L, Zhang W, Mills GB, Kucherlapati R, Mardis ER, Levine DA. Integrated genomic characterization of endometrial carcinoma. Nature. 2013;497:67ā73.
Maxwell GL, Risinger JI, Alvarez AA, Barrett JC, Berchuck A. Favorable survival associated with microsatellite instability in endometrioid endometrial cancers. Obstet Gynecol. 2001;97:417ā22.
Wang H, Douglas W, Lia M, Edelmann W, Kucherlapati R, Podsypanina K, Parsons R, Ellenson LH. DNA mismatch repair deficiency accelerates endometrial tumorigenesis in Pten heterozygous mice. Am J Pathol. 2002;160:1481ā6.
Wang H, Joshi A, Iaconis L, Solomon GJ, Xiang Z, Verhage HG, Douglas W, Ronnett BM, Ellenson LH. Oviduct-specific glycoprotein is a molecular marker for invasion in endometrial tumorigenesis identified using a relevant mouse model. Int J Cancer. 2009;124:1349ā57.
Hayes MP, Wang H, Espinal-Witter R, Douglas W, Solomon GJ, Baker SJ, Ellenson LH. Clin Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 15;12(20 Pt 1):5932ā5.
Sauer B, Henderson N. Cre-stimulated recombination at loxP-containing DNA sequences placed into the mammalian genome. Nucleic Acids Res. 1989;17:147ā61.
Sauer B, Henderson N. Site-specific DNA recombination in mammalian cells by the Cre recombinase of bacteriophage P1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988;85:5166ā70.
Sauer B. Inducible gene targeting in mice using the Cre/lox system. Methods. 1998;14:381ā92.
Daikoku T, Hirota Y, Tranguch S, Joshi AR, DeMayo FJ, Lydon JP, Ellenson LH, Dey SK. Conditional loss of uterine Pten unfailingly and rapidly induces endometrial cancer in mice. Cancer Res. 2008;68:5619ā27.
Shao X, Somlo S, Igarashi P. Epithelial-specific Cre/lox recombination in the developing kidney and genitourinary tract. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2002;13:1837ā46.
Frew IJ, Minola A, Georgiev S, Hitz M, Moch H, Richard S, Vortmeyer AO, Krek W. Combined VHLH and PTEN mutation causes genital tract cystadenoma and squamous metaplasia. Mol Cell Biol. 2008;28:4536ā48.
Joshi A, Miller Jr C, Baker SJ, Ellenson LH. Activated mutant p110alpha causes endometrial carcinoma in the setting of biallelic Pten deletion. Am J Pathol. 2015;185:1104ā13.
Cantley LC. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway. Science. 2002;296:1655ā7.
Di Cristofano A, Ellenson LH. Endometrial Carcinoma. Annu Rev Pathol. 2007;2:57ā85.
Sun M, Paciga JE, Feldman RI, Yuan Z, Coppola D, Lu YY, Shelley SA, Nicosia SV, Cheng JQ. Phosphatidylinositol-3-OH Kinase (PI3K)/AKT2, activated in breast cancer, regulates and is induced by estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) via interaction between ERalpha and PI3K. Cancer Res. 2001;61:5985ā91.
Simoncini T, Hafezi-Moghadam A, Brazil DP, Ley K, Chin WW, Liao JK. Interaction of oestrogen receptor with the regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase. Nature. 2000;407:538ā41.
Campbell RA, Bhat-Nakshatri P, Patel NM, Constantinidou D, Ali S, Nakshatri H. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT-mediated activation of estrogen receptor alpha: a new model for anti-estrogen resistance. J Biol Chem. 2001;276:9817ā24.
Yamnik RL, Digilova A, Davis DC, Brodt ZN, Murphy CJ, Holz MK. S6 kinase 1 regulates estrogen receptor alpha in control of breast cancer cell proliferation. J Biol Chem. 2009;284:6361ā9.
Vilgelm A, Lian Z, Wang H, Beauparlant SL, Klein-Szanto A, Ellenson LH, Di Cristofano A. Akt-mediated phosphorylation and activation of estrogen receptor alpha is required for endometrial neoplastic transformation in Pten+/- mice. Cancer Res. 2006;66:3375ā80.
Joshi A, Wang H, Jiang G, Douglas W, Chan JS, Korach KS, Ellenson LH. Endometrial tumorigenesis in Pten(+/-) mice is independent of coexistence of estrogen and estrogen receptor alpha. Am J Pathol. 2012;180:2536ā47.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
Ā© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Joshi, A., Ellenson, L.H. (2017). PI3K/PTEN/AKT Genetic Mouse Models of Endometrial Carcinoma. In: Hedrick Ellenson, L. (eds) Molecular Genetics of Endometrial Carcinoma. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 943. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43139-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43139-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43137-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43139-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)