(July 8, 2014) Frequent mutations in the ARID1A gene have been previously discovered in ovarian endometrioid and clear-cell cancers. Now research supported by OCRF has provided direct evidence that it is an authentic tumor suppressor gene using a mouse model. OCRF Ann Schreiber Mentored Investigator grantee Bin Guan, PhD is first author, and OCRF Scientific Advisory Committee Member Ie-Ming Shih, MD, PhD is senior author of a research paper on this topic which is published this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
In this study, researchers genetically-modified mice to delete the ARID1A gene, and another tumor suppressor gene, PTEN, from ovarian surface epithelial cells. These mice then went on to develop ovarian endometrioid or undifferentiated cancers, which resemble human diseases under microscope and by molecular profiling. This study paves new ways to understand the tumorigenesis of ovarian endometrioid cancer and could be essential for pre-clinical studies of novel therapeutics for tumors with ARID1A mutations.
