The Prep1 homeodomain transcription factor is essential for embryonic development. 25% of hypomorphic Prep1(i/i) embryos, expressing the gene at 2% of the normal levels, survive pregnancy and live a normal-length life. Later in life, however, these mice develop spontaneous pre-tumoral lesions or solid tumors (lymphomas and carcinomas). In addition, transplantation of E14.5 fetal liver (FL) Prep1(i/i) cells into lethally irradiated mice induces lymphomas. In agreement with the above data, haploinsufficiency of a different Prep1-deficient (null) allele accelerates EmuMyc lymphoma growth. Therefore Prep1 has a tumor suppressor function in mice. Immunohistochemistry on tissue micrroarrays (TMA) generated from three distinct human cohorts comprising a total of some 1000 human tumors revealed that 70% of the tumors express no or extremely low levels of Prep1, unlike normal tissues. Our data in mice are thus potentially relevant to human cancer.
Copyright 2010 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.