Involvement of trefoil factor family 2 in the enlargement of intestinal tumors in ApcMin/+ mice

However, the molecules responsible for determination of tumor size are not well understood. We counted the number of intestinal tumors in 8, 12 and 30-week-old ApcMin/+ mice and measured tumor sizes, respectively.

Genes involved in determining tumor size were examined using microarray analysis. Cultured cells were then, transfected with a mammalian expression vector containing a candidate gene to examine the functional role of the gene. The effect of forced expression of candidate gene on cell growth was evaluated by measuring the doubling time of the cultured cells and the growth of grafted cells in nude mice.