A basal-like subtype of mammary tumors derived from adiponectin haplodeficient MMTV-PyVT mice.

<p><i>A</i>, Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of the expression levels of gene markers associated with different subtypes of breast tumors. The RNA was extracted from cultured primary tumor cells isolated from 14-week old <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/+)</i> and <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/−)</i> female FVB/N mice and quantitative PCR analysis performed as described in the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004968#s4" target="_blank">Methods</a>. *, P<0.01 vs <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/+)</i> group, n = 10. <i>B</i>, Morphological features of tumors derived from 14-week old female <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/+)</i> and <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/−)</i> mice of the FVB/N background. Distinct morphologies were observed between tumors collected from mice with normal and reduced adiponectin levels. Note that central necrosis and geographic tumor necrosis, as well as stromal lymphocytic responses represented the typical basal-like subtype of breast tumors in <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/−)</i> mice. <i>C</i>, The protein levels of p53 were much higher in tumors derived from <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/+)</i> mice compared to those of the <i>PyVT(+/−)/ADN(+/−)</i> mice as measured by Western Blotting using specific antibodies purchased from Cell Signaling Biotechnology.