Gene expression analyses of PR action in the mammary gland of ovariectomized mice

Beyond demonstrating a critical role for progesterone receptor signaling in normal mammary epithelial proliferation, the progesterone receptor knockout mouse disclosed the progesterone receptor along with its effector pathways as key determinants of mammary neoplastic progression. Despite these advances, however, further progress in our mechanistic understanding of progesterones involvement in mammary morphogenesis and tumorigenesis is contingent upon defining the essential effector pathways responsible for transducing the progesterone signal into a mammary proliferative and/or pro-survival response. Toward this goal, a judiciously chosen acute progesterone treatment regimen together with microarray methods was applied to the mammary gland of the normal mouse to uncover new effectors that operate immediately downstream of the progesterone mammary signal. Examination of the resultant progesterone-responsive transcriptome disclosed inhibitor of differentiation or DNA binding 4 (Id4) as a molecular target acutely induced by progesterone in the murine mammary epithelium.

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Fernandez-Valdivia R, Mukherjee A, Creighton CJ, Buser AC, DeMayo FJ, Edwards DP, Lydon JP