Figure 1

Tumor latency and metastasis in mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-Neu mice with dominant-negative (DN) transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) receptor II (DNIIR). (A) Differences in two MMTV-Neu tumor models between a previously published model [16] and the models used in the current study. (B) Mammary tumor latency in 202Mul versus 202Mul/DN mice and (C) NK1Mul versus MK1Mul/DN mice. Age of onset is the time that a palpable mammary tumor first appears. T ₅₀ denotes the age at which 50% of mice first possess a tumor, and n is the number of mice examined. (D) Weight of tumor tissue in NK1Mul and NK1Mul/DN mice at different time points after tumor palpation. The total weight of tumors from all 10 mammary glands is indicated. (E) Tumor volume measured by caliper every 3 days after implantation into mammary fat pad via collagen plugs containing MMTV-Neu or MMTV-Neu/DNIIR carcinoma cell lines from NK1Mul or NK1Mul/DN mice, respectively. Five mice per group were used. (F) Representative H&E sections illustrated metastasis in lungs of 202Mul and 202Mul/DN mice. Black box indicates area selected to represent CD34 IHC staining in Additional file 1: Figure S1. (G) Number of metastatic foci in lungs by using different tumor models: 202Mul mice, Nk1Mul mice and orthotopic implantation of carcinoma cells. Data shown on a scatter plot with median and interquartile range; n is the number of mice examined; percentage indicates number of mice with metastasis; non-parametric Mann-Whitney test.