Mcs5c: a mammary carcinoma susceptibility locus located in a gene desert that associates with tenascin C expression

Genetic factors have been estimated to account for at least 30% of a woman's risk to develop breast cancer. We have developed a rat model using Wistar Furth (WF) and Wistar Kyoto (WKy) strains to genetically identify mammary cancer susceptibility loci. The WKy allele of the mammary carcinogenesis susceptibility locus Mcs5c, was previously shown to reduce carcinoma multiplicity after 7,12-dimethylbenz-a]anthracene (DMBA) exposure. In this study, Mcs5c was fine-mapped using WF.WKy congenic lines. Mcs5c was located to a region of approximately 176 kb on rat chromosome 5. One of the Mcs5c congenic lines containing a narrow Mcs5c WKy interval displayed a 40% decrease in average carcinoma number compared with WF-homozygous congenic controls after mammary carcinogenesis induction using two different models. As genetically mapped, the Mcs5c locus is located in a gene desert and thus is devoid of genes and annotated RNAs; thus, a genetic element in Mcs5c was hypothesized to regulate the expression of genes outside the locus. Tenascin c (Tnc) was identified as a candidate gene due to its reduced expression in thymus and ovarian tissues of Mcs5c WKy-homozygous congenic females compared with WF-homozygous congenic controls. This allele-specific differential expression is environmentally controlled.