Mammary Cells with Active Wnt Signaling Resist ErbB2-Induced Tumorigenesis

In 2013, a study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Wnt signaling and ErbB2-induced tumorigenesis in mammary cells. The researchers found that mammary cells with active Wnt signaling resisted the development of tumors when exposed to ErbB2, a potent oncogene. This was demonstrated using transgenic mice, where a subset of cells with active Wnt signaling did not evolve into tumors following ErbB2 activation, but instead underwent apoptosis. The study involved 14 TTA mice, and despite a larger population of initially infected cells, only one tumor was observed in the TTA group, and none in the TTB group. The study concluded that not all mammary cells are equally susceptible to tumor initiation by an oncogenic event, suggesting that different subsets of breast cancers may have distinct cells of origin.