Osteosarcomagenesis: Modeling Cancer Initiation in the Mouse

Figure 3

Osteosarcomagenesis has been tested from a range of cells of origin along the differentiation pathway of osteoblasts. Cre-recombinase expression driven from the Prx1, osterix, and collagen 1a1 promoters has generated osteosarcomas in mice when used for the conditional inactivation of p53 with or without Rb1. The osteocalcin promoter, defining a late stage of osteoblast differentiation usually not expressed in osteosarcoma cells directly, has proven sufficient for osteosarcomagenesis, when used to drive SV40 large and small T antigens.