Elongator promotes breast cancer metastasis

Elongator is a protein complex (Elp1-6) involved in diverse cellular processes, such as protein acetylation and tRNA modification and whose function is essential for cell migration and neuronal differentiation. Although it is well established that tumor development involves modifications of acetylation-deacetylation dynamics, as well as changes in protein translation, the role of Elongator in tumor initiation and invasion remains to be investigated in vivo. We generated a mouse model in which the Elp3 gene, encoding the catalytic subunit of the complex, is conditionally inactivated in the mammary gland epithelium by using the MMTV-CRE transgenic mouse. The role of Elp3 in tumor development and metastasis formation is then assessed in the PyMT model of invasive breast cancer.