| Atm-haploinsufficiency enhances susceptibility to carcinogen-induced mammary tumors (2006) | |||||||||||||
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| Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T), which is due to mutations in the ATM gene, is a rare autosomal recessive genomic instability syndrome characterized by radiosensitivity and predisposition to cancer. Epidemiological studies have suggested that relatives of A-T patients (A-T carriers) have increased risks of developing breast cancer. We propose that increased breast cancer risks in A-T carriers may be due to exposure to various environmental carcinogens and/or dietary consumption. To test this hypothesis, we treated a congenic strain of Atm+/- mice with DMBA (7,12-dimethylbenz(α)anthracene), a mammary carcinogen, and observed mammary tumor incidence. It was found that Atm+/- mice have a two-fold increase, as well as early onset, in mammary tumor incidence relative to wild type mice (p | |||||||||||||
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