Bioluminescence imaging of estrogen receptor activity during breast cancer progression

Estrogen receptors (ER) are known to play an important regulatory role in mammary gland development as well as in its neoplastic transformation. Although several studies highlighted the contribution of ER signaling in the breast transformation, little is known about the dynamics of ER state of activity during carcinogenesis due to the lack of appropriate models for measuring the extent of receptor signaling in time, in the same animal. To this aim, we have developed a reporter mouse model for the non-invasive in vivo imaging of ER activity: the ERE-Luc reporter mouse. ERE-Luc is a transgenic mouse generated with a firefly luciferase (Luc) reporter gene driven by a minimal promoter containing an estrogen responsive element (ERE). This model allows to measure receptor signaling in longitudinal studies by bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Here, we have induced sporadic mammary cancers by treating systemically ERE-Luc reporter mice with DMBA (9,10-dimethyl 1,2-benzanthracene) and measured receptor signaling by in vivo imaging in individual animals from early stage until a clinically palpable tumor appeared in the mouse breast. We showed that DMBA administration induces an increase of bioluminescence in the whole abdominal area 6 h after treatment, the signal rapidly disappears. Several weeks later, strong bioluminescence is observed in the area corresponding to the mammary glands. In vivo and ex vivo imaging analysis demonstrated that this bioluminescent signal is localized in the breast area undergoing neoplastic transformation. We conclude that this non-invasive assay is a novel relevant tool to identify the activation of the ER signaling prior the morphological detection of the neoplastic transformation.

TLQP-21, a VGF-derived peptide, increases energy expenditure and prevents the early phase of diet-induced obesity

The vgf gene has been identified as an energy homeostasis regulator. Vgf encodes a 617-aa precursor protein that is processed to yield an incompletely characterized panel of neuropeptides. Until now, it was an unproved assumption that VGF-derived peptides could regulate metabolism. Here, a VGF peptide designated TLQP-21 was identified in rat brain extracts by means of immunoprecipitation, microcapillary liquid chromatography-tandem MS, and database searching algorithms. Chronic intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of TLQP-21 (15 mug/day for 14 days) increased resting energy expenditure (EE) and rectal temperature in mice. These effects were paralleled by increased epinephrine and up-regulation of brown adipose tissue beta2-AR (beta2 adrenergic receptor) and white adipose tissue (WAT) PPAR-delta (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta), beta3-AR, and UCP1 (uncoupling protein 1) mRNAs and were independent of locomotor activity and thyroid hormones. Hypothalamic gene expression of orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides was unchanged. Furthermore, in mice that were fed a high-fat diet for 14 days, TLQP-21 prevented the increase in body and WAT weight as well as hormonal changes that are associated with a high-fat regimen. Biochemical and molecular analyses suggest that TLQP-21 exerts its effects by stimulating autonomic activation of adrenal medulla and adipose tissues. In conclusion, we present here the identification in the CNS of a previously uncharacterized VGF-derived peptide and prove that its chronic i.c.v. infusion effected an increase in EE and limited the early phase of diet-induced obesity.