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Transgenic rescue from embryonic lethality and renal carcinogenesis in the Nihon rat model by introduction of a wild-type Bhd gene.

Togashi Y, Kobayashi T, Momose S, Ueda M, Okimoto K, Hino O

Department of Pathology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

We recently reported that a germline insertion of a single nucleotide in the rat homologue of the human Birt-Hogg-Dubé gene (BHD) gives rise to dominantly inherited cancer in the Nihon rat model. In this study, we constructed transgenic Nihon rats with introduction of a wild-type Bhd gene to ascertain whether suppression of the Nihon phenotype is possible. Rescue from embryonic lethality of mutant homozygotes (Nihon/Nihon) and suppression of renal carcinogenesis in heterozygotes (Nihon/+) were both observed, defining the germline Bhd mutation in the Nihon rat as an embryonal lethal and tumor predisposing mutation. This transgenic rescue system will be useful to analyse Bhd gene function, its relation to tumorigenesis in vivo, and genetic-environmental interactions in carcinogenesis.

Published 11 May 2006 in Oncogene, 25(20): 2885-9.
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