Passenger mutations that are backseat drivers in mouse models of breast cancer

The Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute Frontiers in Cancer Research Lecture Series is pleased to welcome Eran Andrechek, PhD, Professor at Michigan State University.

The seminar will take place on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 2:00pm in the GCI Karp Room 501.

Abstract:

To study breast cancer many labs have turned to mouse models that typically overexpress oncogenes or delete tumor suppressors. While the overexpression of strong oncogenes leads to rapid tumor onset, it has been unclear what other genomic events occur during tumor development that result in the heterogenous tumors that form. Integrating gene expression with whole genome sequencing, the Andrechek lab has been examining the additional genomic events that occur during tumor development. This has revealed in three major models of breast cancer (MMTV-PyMT, MMTV-Neu and MMTV-Myc) that there are critical mutations that occur that alter tumor biology. For PyMT tumors, sequencing revealed conserved mutations in a phosphatase that regulates EGFR. MMTV-Neu mice, a model of HER2+ breast cancer, were observed to share an additional amplification event with their human counterparts that impacted metastatic progression. Recent work with the Myc tumors has revealed inactivating mutations in cKit and alterations to RARa. Using an approach to leverage public gene expression data, the lab has been investigating other genomic events in the breast cancer model systems. This led to the generation of a new mouse model of metastatic breast cancer that develops liver metastasis and the mechanisms of this will be discussed.

Bio:

Eran Andrechek is a professor at Michigan State University. He did his graduate studies under the guidance of Dr. William Muller while at McMaster University and his postdoctoral studies at Duke University. He started his lab at Michigan State in 2009 and has focused on metastatic breast cancer since that point, using a combination of mouse models and bioinformatics.