Abstract
The genetic complexity and heterogeneity of cancer has posed a problem in designing rationally targeted therapies effective in a large proportion of human cancer. Genomic characterization of many cancer types has provided a staggering amount of data that needs to be interpreted to further our understanding of this disease. Forward genetic screening in mice using Sleeping Beauty (SB) based insertional mutagenesis is an effective method for candidate cancer gene discovery that can aid in distinguishing driver from passenger mutations in human cancer. This system has been adapted for unbiased screens to identify drivers of multiple cancer types. These screens have already identified hundreds of candidate cancer-promoting mutations. These can be used to develop new mouse models for further study, which may prove useful for therapeutic testing. SB technology may also hold the key for rapid generation of reverse genetic mouse models of cancer, and has already been used to model glioblastoma and liver cancer.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 86-95 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology |
| Volume | 27 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:B.R.T. is supported by NIH IMVTP grant T32 AI 83196-4.
Keywords
- Cancer gene discovery
- Insertional mutagenesis
- Mouse models
- Sleeping Beauty
- Transposable elements
